The Cure
by onalee
Summary: Post 4x09 canon up until that point. This will be going in a different direction from the show. Delena, lots of plot and angst. Damon wants to know it's real. Elena wants to prove it to him. Stefan wants his love back, Klaus wants more hybrids, Shane wants more than he lets on, Rebekah wants revenge. But not everyone gets what they want, not without a fight.
1. Miserable

Elena tossed and turned back and forth throughout the night, not that it was new now a days. Every night for the past twelve night she'd been absolutely miserable. She felt the sire bond in her fighting her common sense and it was absolutely exhausting. Damon sent her away, he used the sirebond to send her away. She knew it wasn't right, she knew he really wanted her there and she knew she wanted him outside of the sirebond. She could feel it and she knew it had nothing to do with how she felt. The sirebond mixed with her feelings and actions like oil and water. It interfered with everything she wanted and it was making her miserable.

She thought that after she turned she wouldn't have to be this _weak_. It was one of the only things she was actually excited about after turning. It was one of the only things she didn't miss about being human. But laying here in Damon's bed, surrounded by scent and essence of a person who she was not _allowed _to be with, she felt so entirely weak. This was not fair, and part of her was really pissed at Damon for once again exercising his power to take away her choices for the "greater-good". This time she understood, she got why he thought he was doing the right thing, but it was so frustrating. The fact that she couldn't explain to him that she could feel the difference between her emotions and the sirebond was making her crazy.

She heard a door slam and glanced to the clock, 7:45pm. She wondered for a just a moment who could have been barging through the boarding house before recognizing the deep sigh that belonged to Stefan. He'd been shamelessly cold to her these past two weeks and it stung but she was in no mood to investigate on it, especially not with Caroline missing.

She'd seen Caroline a grand total of once since she returned to Mystic Falls and it was at Mayor Lockwood's wake. Elena sighed, not wanting to relive that day ever. She'd been holding her breath that even though both Damon and Jeremy had effectively shut out all her texts and phone calls that they would show up to support Tyler. Well, she would have understood if Damon didn't want to support Tyler but she thought that he would have been there, maybe for her. She had wanted to see him there so bad and with each passing moment that he wasn't she felt grief consume her. She was tired of losing people, and tired of being weak.

Caroline and Tyler kept their distance during the funeral, in fact Caroline hadn't talked to him at all. She showed up about halfway through looking disheveled, and though Elena wasn't exactly Caroline's biggest fan right now that didn't mean she wasn't worried about her. Caroline left immediately after the burial, blurring off so quickly that Elena didn't have the energy to bother catching up with her. When she'd asked Stefan if she was okay, he'd brushed her off, barley nodding in response.

As worried about Caroline as Elena was, she was more concerned with Klaus. He was after Tyler and she honestly couldn't figure out why he hadn't killed him yet. Her stomach turned at the thought, and how casually it floated into her mind. She knew Caroline had to be doing _something_ to prevent Tyler's death, which also made her nervous. She wanted to help, but these days she felt like she was grounded. Damon ordered her away, Stefan wasn't speaking with her, Bonnie was busy with Jeremy, Shane and Matt, Caroline was refusing to let Elena know her plans and Tyler was MIA.

She settled deeper into the covers, hoping that she could still get a whiff of Damon's uniquely intoxicating scent before she went to sleep. Tomorrow, she decided, tomorrow she was going to take charge.

.

* * *

.

"Not fast enough little Gilbert." Damon quipped, maneuvering himself from Jeremy's grasp. "You'll have to do better." He stated plainly.

"Then teach me!" Jeremy screamed at him, his rage was nearly uncontrollable around Damon these days, and it made the vampire nervous. Not for his sake, but for Elena's. Jeremy was going to have to go back to mystic falls sooner or later and when he did Damon would prefer he wasn't out for his big sister's blood.

"Jer—" Matt interrupted, taking a few steps towards the fighting pair.

"No Matt, I'm done practicing on you, I'm ready!" He yelled again. Matt looked a little defeated, Damon knew it wasn't the first time matt and Jeremy had that conversation in the past couple of weeks.

"Control your anger Gilbert, we can't have you getting all pissy with humans too." Damon said coldly. Jeremy stomped away from the pair of them and back into the lakehouse where he slammed the door.

"Maybe we should lay off the vamp killings for now, I mean look at what it's doing to him." Matt said. Damon brushed him off, truthfully he didn't have the energy to fight with anyone so he ignored him instead, hoping he would just go away. Over the past couple weeks his life had been absolute hell. Letting Elena go was probably the most difficult thing he had to do as of yet and it didn't help that the very next day Stefan showed up and staked him in the gut.

He probably deserved it for waiting so long to cut the cord.

He probably deserved it for a few things.

After staking Damon Stefan unleashed 3 new vampires handpicked by his new BFF Klaus and Jeremy killed them all. It had infuriated Damon, I mean he might deserve to be staked, but bringing little Gilbert into their feud was not his place. It was his job to make sure Jeremy grew his mark, not Stefan's. Klaus would have to be patient, Jeremy was on the brink of insanity as it was. With every kill he hated vampirism more, and the closer together the kills were the more intensely he yearned to exterminate them all. And Professor creepy wasn't doing anything substantial to help, at least not anything that Damon could see.

He looked out over the lake deciding that he must really be a masochist. He could not have gone anywhere else that was so intertwined with Elena. He could practically feel her in the fucking air around him. He could smell her in the house and all while hanging around with her little bro. It was torture, but he didn't know what would be more painful, staying or leaving. Of course he had to stay with Jeremy as long as possible, he couldn't just take off, not now. Not now that Elena may or may not love him. Not now that she needed him.

He had to stay here with Jeremy and help where he could, at least until things fell apart in Mystic Falls and someone ended up in grave danger. He rolled his eyes, it was a miracle he hadn't gotten a call yet. Well, aside from the dozens of calls Elena was putting through. She tried everyday and every day that he had to ignore her hurt a little more.

Life was fucking unfair.

Right on cue though, his phone began to vibrate and Elena's name lit up the screen. He swallowed thickly, he came closer to answering every time, trying to reason that she might really need him, but if she did she would have called Jeremy and Bonnie. He didn't hit ignore, instead he watched it ring and ring, powerless against hearing her call him. And when it stopped it slipped the phone back into his pocket, deciding this would be so much harder than he imagined.

.

* * *

.

"God Klaus is such an ASS." Caroline stormed into her living room, throwing down her purse and collapsing on the couch across from Stefan, who ahd previously been researching through yet another spell book.

"Since when did you decide to be his best friend?" He asked dryly. Truthfully he was a little worried about Caroline, he hadn't seen much of her without Klaus sine Tyler's Mom died and it made all of them uneasy.

"Since he started hunting down my boyfriend! Or…ex? I don't know whatever." She snapped, obviously exasperated. "Has Elena come out of her room yet?" She sighed, trying to change the subject. She missed her friend, at least the friend she had before she turned and wen all sired-to-Damon-woe-is-me.

"Damons room actually, and no." He said in a clipped tone. Caroline rolled her eyes.

"Seriously?" Caroline groaned. "When did everything get so messed up?" She whined. She'd had enough. After spending the week kissing Klaus' psychotic ass in an attempt to get him to not go after Tyler she was on the verge of breaking down. Not to mention the fact that since the funeral Tyler was officially MIA and wouldn't even talk to her. She hoped he was smart enough to stay in hiding, but shooting her a text wouldn't exactly sign his death certificate.

"Jeremy's mark is getting closer." Stefan said absently.

"Well, that's good, I think." She was worried about Jer, but they needed the cure, _now_. Klaus needed to focus on that rather than Tyler, and Elena needed to get free of the stupid sirebond so everything could go back to normal with her and Stefan. The sooner Jeremy's mark was complete the better.

"It is good isn't it?" Both vampires were instantly alert and poised at the new voice as it entered the room. Leaning casually against the doorframe was Rebekah, her demeanor cool and collected, which was almost more striking than if she'd come in baring steaks.

"Rebekah." Stefan gasped.

"Hello loves, no need to stand up, we've got a lot to talk about."

"How?" Caroline demanded. Rebekah was literally the last person they needed around right now.

"Does it matter?" She replied smugly. Neither Stefan nor Caroline had moved out of their defensive stances when she blurred in front of them, snapping Caroline's neck and leaving her on the floor in an unceremonious heap. She smiled down at her handywork before turning to Stefan.

"I want the cure." She said slowly, in a serious tone. She was done being coy, now she meant business. "Tell me everything you and Nicklaus know."

"Why would I tell you anything?" Stefan deadpanned, refusing to be intimidated by her.

"Because I have Tyler and as much as you might not care about that poor boy I'm sure your pretty blonde friend would be upset if I handed him straight over to my brother."

"I don't know any more than you do Rebekah."

"You're lying."

"I'm not." There was a brief pause wherein he thought for one moment she may have believed him until she raised him by the throat.

"That cure is _mine_ Stefan, don't make me kill your pretty little girlfriend _again._"

"She's hardly my girlfriend, what with her being sired to Damon and all." He spat. He eyes gave away her sudden interest for a moment and he took advantage of her distraction to free himself from her grip. "You'll get that cure over my dead body Rebekah."

"Don't make promises you can't keep." She said smugly, and then she was gone.

* * *

.

**Okay this is going to be a Post 4x09 fic. It will be long and Delena centric. It will be kind of plot heavy and will not follow the show for the most part after 4x09. There will be angst**

**It will be a bit of a slow build sorry.**

**This chapter is a lot of setup it's short and not very much action but I'll get to it soon I promise.**

**the next few chapters will come quick if I get a good response :) **

**Hopefully you guys like it, if you do, please read and review it will make me update sooner, thanks –Onalee**


	2. Kidnapped

Elena combed through her wet hair in Damon's bathroom, freshly dressed and almost ready for school. She never understood why Damon though school was so silly before, but as a vampire she finally got it. Going to school _was_ kind of silly, but it was also a small part of being human that she didn't really want to give up, not yet anyways. She turned to leave the bathroom when she was blindsided and thrust against the wall by her neck. She panicked, thrashing against her attacker desperately, but it was a moot point. So much for taking charge today Before she could blink or fight she was fading quickly into blackness.

Elena's head _hurt_. She tried desperately to open her eyes, but her lids were just so heavy. She didn't think it was possible for her head to hurt this much, especially not when she was a vampire. Suddenly, she realized, everything hurt. Her arms and legs and wrists and her _neck_. The more she came to the more the burning sensation took over and the more pain she was in. She groaned loudly, trying to remember what happened. Opening her eyes she took in her surroundings. She was in a large basement, but she didn't recognize it. She felt her heart pick up pace when she noticed the source of her pain. She was chained to a wall, with metal chains that had wooden spikes jutting into her wrists, ankles and her neck. She struggled, and yelped out in pain again. The stakes had to be soaked in vervaine, they seared her flesh like the sun.

"Well look who's awake." Elena snapped her head in the direction of the voice, immediately regretting it when the stake drove itself further into her neck at the sudden movement. She grit her teeth, trying not to scream. She wouldn't give that bitch the satisfaction.

"Rebekah what the hell?" She gasped, taking in the sight of her least favorite original vampire standing a few feet away, twirling a wooden steak in her hand.

"Well that's no way to greet someone." She pouted, stalking closer to Elena. "Didn't your mummy teach you any manners?" She spat, shoving the stake deep into Elena's abdomen in a swift movement. She gasped and cried out, unable to keep the expression of pain to herself. Rebekah ripped the stake back out and stared at the wound she'd made in Elena.

"Good, it looks like this will be easier than I thought, you haven't fed in a while, that's why you're not healing so well." She smiled. "Rookie mistake." She sneered.

"What do you want?" Elena rasped out physically unable to speak any clearer. She was furious, and once again felt like the weak link in this group. She was sick of this, as a vampire she should be able to take care of herself, yet here she was again, waiting to be rescued. She thought frantically, trying to figure a way out of this, or at least a way to contact someone, but she had nothing, literally every miniscule movement drove a stake deeper into her skin, making her weaker than before.

"I want what everyone so desperately wants to get for you, the cure." She said plainly. "You're the reason that almost every vampire in that town is working around the clock, and if I control you, I control what happens to the cure." She shrugged. "Or at least if I keep you locked up here long enough I'll get on a level playing field by getting all the information you've been so busy gathering while I was rotting in a coffin, so let's skip the girl talk, and get right to the juicy stuff, tell me what you know, or I'll torture it out of you." She grinned.

Elena's eyes widened and she strengthened her resolve. Someone was going to find her, and when they did she wanted to be strong, she had to stay strong.

.

* * *

.

"Hey Elena, it's me, I was just calling again to see why you weren't in school, not that I have been much anyway. I just wanted to talk." Caroline sighed into the phone. "I miss you." She said before hanging up. It was unlike Elena to hold a grudge for this long and very unlike her to skip school unless held up by her least favorite Salvatore. Fortunately Damon was far enough away that she knew it couldn't be him, and she hoped this sirebond wasn't fundamentally changing more of her personality.

She was a little concerned about Rebekah too. After the original had snapped Caroline's neck and stayed only to interrogate Stefan about the cure she was left uneasy. Rebekah wanted answers and if she left so soon she probably knew how to get them. Her best guess was that she paid a little visit to the lake house to entice Damon to her side. Caroline scoffed at the idea. If Rebekah thought that anyone would be willing to give her a taste of the cure she was out of her mind. Not only did they all want the cure specifically for someone _she_ killed, but they were all on the same side, at least in a relative sense. There was a reason they killed her in the first place, she should have gotten the memo, honestly.

Caroline sped up her walking pace, deciding to stop by the boarding house to get it over with and make up with Elena in person. Not that they were really fighting. She didn't know who the hell she was fighting with anymore. Between Tyler and Klaus and the cure and Rebekah she could really use some girl time to unwind with her best friend.

"Elena?" Caroline called as she walked into the boarding house, glancing around the living room. It was incredibly eerie in here without Stefan brooding an Damon drinking. Caroline brushed off the feeling of unease.

"Elena, stop your moping I know you can hear me I'm here to snap you out of this funk." She said sternly, taking the stairs two at a time. Caroline rolled her eyes at the lack of response as she reached Damon's bedroom and peered inside. Her skin instantly erupted in goosebumps as her instincts took over. She could smell that Rebekah was here. A sense of dread crept over her skin as a realization that they hadn't even _warned_ Elena sunk in. She sped her way around the room, looking for signs of any trouble when she saw the slight smear of vampireblood against the shattered bathroom mirror. There'd been a struggle, and knowing Rebekah, she'd probably gotten her way. Elena was stubborn but Rebekah was old.

Caroline whipped out her phone and dialed for Stefan, her heart beating wildly. Rebekah must've been here in the morning, that was nearly 7 hours ago, they could be anywhere by now. They could have at least warned Elena that Rebekah was back, or checked on her. Before she had the chance to feel even guiltier, she dialed for Stefan.

"What is it Caroline?"

"We have a huge problem."

.

* * *

.

"I don't know anything Rebekah, honestly it's been hours, you've compelled me, just give it a rest already." Elena begged. The truth was she wasn't sure how much more she could handle, Rebekah had been at it for what seemed like days, rattling off question after question that she just didn't have answers to. By now Rebekah knew everything she did and it was getting hard to even stay awake. Her wounds weren't healing anymore, not even slowly. On top of that, she was just being mean now, not that the behavior was surprising in the least. After taunting her about her sirebond to Damon and revealing that she had spoken to Stefan last night Elena was almost irritated that he hadn't given her a head's up. He could have shot her a text saying "BTW the bitch we staked and who has a personal vendetta against you is back and out for you blood" I mean that would have been nice. She tried not to think too much into it though, Stefan really didn't owe her anything right now, but she thought she knew him better than that.

"Well there's just no fun in that." She snickered. "Besides, either Damon or Stefan is going to show up here eventually, and when they do, I need them to see just what I'm capable of doing if they don't give me what I want." She said clearly. "And Stefan has crossed me for the last time, if he needs to see you like _this_ a hundred more times to get the picture, then so be it." She threatened. Elena tried to respond, but couldn't find her voice. "In fact if he isn't the one to come to your rescue then we might just have to do this again." She said icily.

"As far as your sire-master goes, well, he'll go insane when he sees you like this. And I need him to make a deal with me." She shrugged. "I promise I'll leave you alone and in turn he continues to share all his cure information with me from here on out and then you and I will share it. Everyone wins, except Niklaus, since I plan to shove it down his throat. It's fairly simple, even in this state you should be able to keep up with that." She smiled, leaning against the wall next to her again.

"Why would you share it? That doesn't even make since." She managed to grit out. Rebekah might be kicking her while she was down, but she'd be damned if she didn't even fight her. When Damon or Stefan found her here, they would find her fighting.

"I'll share it because everyone wants you to have it, and I don't think it would bode well for me if I stole it from you." She sneered.

"Then why are you even torturing me?" She asked. Rebekah smiled.

"Because people like to stab me in the back, literally, so this way they know exactly what they'll be getting if they decide to double cross me _again_. And Stefan needs to see that I play just as dirty as he does." She added, unconcerned. Without warning she struck Elena in the thigh with another stake.

"Hmm, it has been quite a while, better hope your loverboys get here soon."

.

* * *

.

"Stefan, it's been hours." Caroline pleaded.

"Yeah I know how long it's been!" He snapped at her, pacing the length of the living room yet again. Stefan was very close to panicking, they'd exhausted nearly every search option in finding Elena, everything except asking for help, and right now that was the last thing he wanted to do.

"I know you're mad at him but Damon—

"No." He stated coldly. "We are not calling him, we can handle this." He assured her, but he didn't seem so sure himself. Caroline understood he had his pride, but enough was enough, it was getting dark and Elena could've been gone for over 12 hours, they needed to find her, _now_.

"Then let's at least call Bonnie. Maybe she can do a spell." Caroline interjected hopefully. To be honest she was going to call Bonnie whether he liked it or not, enough was enough and Elena could really be in trouble. Honestly Rebekah was one of the only people in town that didn't need Elena alive for something and she's killed her once, Caroline imagined she would do it again just to prove a point.

"Do you really think Rebekah would be stupid enough to let magic trace her?" Stefan asked. Caroline crossed her arms over her chest defensively. She'd had it with his attitude.

"Listen, unless you want to call Klaus and involve him in this, I suggest you pick someone, Elena needs us and alone we can't find her, we've been looking for hours, we've scoured the town, we need help Stefan." She argued, hoping it would get through to him. He was silent for a few moments, before he finally nodded.

"Call Bonnie, but that's it." He conceded, praying that magic would somehow help him out for once.

.

* * *

.

"What?" Bonnie hissed into the phone yet again. She was enraged. Caroline and Stefan should have called hours ago, as soon as they'd found out. Not to mention the fact that they really should have known sooner. Yeah, Elena was a vampire now and she could take care of herself, but after a run in with Rebekah she thought Caroline wouldn't be dumb enough not to give everyone a heads up. She could have shown up at the lake house and killed Jeremy or Matt on the spot as part of her entrance and none of them would have seen her coming. Bonnie shook the thoughts from her mind, trying not to get even angrier, she needed to focus if she was going to help.

"I know, I know we should have called. But you know how bad things are between Damon and Stefan right now." Bonnie tried to understand where Caroline was coming from, she really did, but she couldn't bring herself to. She looked out the window at Damon, stiffly watching as Jeremy practiced with Matt. Bonnie was mad, but Damon was going to fly off the handle. She shuddered.

"I tried a locator spell, it's not working, Stefan was right Rebekah must have blocked magic." Bonnie explained, her anxiety growing.

"Would it be the worst idea in the world to call Klaus, I mean he hates his sister and the bane of his existence is keeping Elena alive right now so I'm pretty sure he would get the job done." Caroline tried. Bonnie shook her head, deciding that Caroline and Elena really needed to call a truce. Caroline would never have suggested that before telling Damon if her and Elena were getting along.

"Yeah so he can decide that both Stefan and Damon are useless and kill them? Right now Klaus wants them alive because they do the best job of protecting Elena, right? Not to mention the fact that he just went on a homicidal binge. I don't think we can accurately gauge how he's going to respond to anything." Bonnie snapped. She was watching Damon again out the window, trying to decide the best course of action here. She was going to tell him, she knew it, but she didn't know how, and she didn't want Jeremy to know.

"Well I'm out of options Bonnie, Rebekah doesn't want to be found." Caroline whined.

"I'm going to tell Damon." She decided, halfway down the stairs already. It was the only thing that made sense. Damon had flaws, big ones, but if she could count on him for anything it was to keep Elena alive. She could protect Jeremy and Matt while he was gone.

"No, don't!" Caroline begged. "Stefan might lose it!" She argued, but Bonnie had heard enough.

"Elena's gone Care. That's our best friend. I could care less about the pissing match between her boyfriends right now." Bonnie abruptly ended the call and shoved her phone in her pocket as she ran towards Damon, who barely noticed her until she was practically under his nose.

"Damon, I need to talk to you." Her voice was fervent, and she needed him to look at her, to know this was important.

"What is it Sabrina, I'm kind of busy here." He quipped, looking away from her. He'd been tense ever since sending Elena away. She guessed that he had doubts about her safety, on top of all the sirebond nonsense, but he probably had enough faith in his brother to look out for her. For a brief moment she felt a pang of sympathy for the murderous vampire in front of her.

"It's Rebekah." She whispered. They were far enough away from Jeremy and Matt to talk if he kept his temper in check. His gaze was suddenly back on her, intently focused.

"Tell me that one of our idiot friends back in Mystic Hell didn't undagger her." He said smoothly, barely concealing the anxiety in his voice.

"I don't know who did it, but that's the least of our problems. She showed up at Caroline's last night and started threatening them for the information on the cure." Bonnie watched as Damon went rigid with what she assumed was anger, and just a hint of fear. "And she took Elena this morning." Bonnie added, preparing herself for the onslaught of Damon's rage.

"What do you mean took her?" He demanded.

"Stefan and Caroline searched the whole city, they've been looking for hours and can't find her." But before Bonnie could even finish her sentence she was standing in front of no one, Damon was long gone.

.

* * *

.

Damon was enraged. As he sped across the yard and opened the door to the house located directly in the middle of nowhere two towns over, he was still shaking with rage. Stefan should have called him the second he saw Rebekah. He was pissed about that, but he could kill his little brother for not bothering to call him when Elena went missing, or when he couldn't find her. He'd been shaking the entire drive back to Mystic Falls, which had taken him an hour. Through that hour he tried not to think, but the only thing going through his mind was Elena.

Knowing that Rebekah had no qualms about killing the only fucking thing he was living for made him sick to his stomach. Being that he too had been kidnapped by Barbie Klaus not long ago he knew how she liked to play, and he also knew that she wanted him to find her. She left signature clues everywhere, and it had taken him less than an hour after arriving back in town to find the little house he was almost positive she was hiding in. As soon as he was back in the city he was on their trail. He didn't bother to call Stefan, he couldn't even think his brother's name without wanting to murder something right now. If Stefan went another few hours without knowing if Elena was okay then so be it. That bastard deserved it for being spiteful enough to put his feud with Damon before Elena's safety. It gave him a little comfort that Rebekah wanted to be found, if not she would've killed Elena on the spot and left her body for him. He shuddered at the thought and sped up. He didn't want to think about what Rebekah was capable of. Elena might be a vampire now, but Rebekah was an expert on making vampires feel pain, and Elena was no exception to that.

"Took you long enough. I was beginning to think you'd moved on, found a new girl to pine over." Rebekah stood in the middle of the small house she'd rented specifically for this occasion two towns over, knowing it would be just enough to frustrate the Salvatores, but not quite enough to keep them off her trail forever.

"Where is she?" Damon demanded, but when he tried to move past the original she blocked his path. It took all his self-control not to fight her right then and there. If he had the white oak stake she'd be dead.

"Have a little patience, she's been here all day, what's a few more minutes?" She pouted. Damon heard a groan from the lower floor that made his heart drop to his stomach, Elena was here, and she was in pain. He felt physically ill at the notion, needing to see her with every fiber of his body. His imagination ran wild at what Rebekah could have been doing to her, and bile rose in the back of his throat.

"Not so fast, like I said, she's been here all day." Rebekah warned again, throwing Damon away from her with a hard shove. He'd braced himself for her counter attack, ready to snap her neck just to get past her. It wouldn't be the best long term plan, but for now he didn't care, he just needed to get to Elena.

"I won't ask you again Rebekah—

"I want you as an ally." She interjected seriously. Damon was livid already, barely able to contain his rage, but managed to let out a dry laugh.

"Kidnapping Elena wasn't your best move then." He replied. She ignored his comment.

"You find the cure, keep me updated, and then when it comes time to take it, Elena and I will split it. In return I promise not to kill her, or torture her. If you cross me, I'll take her somewhere where you _won't_ find me." She proposed. Damon heard a small groan from downstairs and quickly decided he could not stand it a second longer. Besides, Rebekah wouldn't budge unless he agreed to this deal with her. He didn't trust her, in fact he hated her. If it wasn't for her none of them would be in this mess in the first place, but he had to get to Elena _now. _And if shaking Rebekah's hand was his ticket to that, he would gladly do it, he would do anything.

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* * *

.

She thought she had to be dreaming. She hadn't seen Damon for almost 2 weeks, and while she hung here against the wall, she was sure she started hearing his voice. She was hallucinating, she was convinced of it. Rebekah eventually stopped torturing her, clearly she'd gotten bored, probably when Elena started wavering in and out of consciousness. In fact if Elena didn't know better she would've been sure she was dying, hell, maybe she was.

Then she opened her eyes again she he was in front of her. His striking blue eyes focused on releasing her ankles from their shackles. Her heart began to palpitate and her eyes widened. She'd been dreaming of their reunion for almost 2 weeks, but she had no energy to carry it out right now. She wanted to tell him how she felt, even if he was just here for a moment, before he left her again.

If Damon could have had a heart attack, he would have. She looked dead. More dead than he had ever seen her. The only telltale sign that she was still alive was the fact that the grey veins had not crept across her skin. Her hands, feet and neck had tiny wooden stakes in them, keeping her chains in place, and causing her unbearable pain no doubt. She was pale and covered in blood. Large wounds covered her body, especially in her abdomen and thighs. Rebekah must have staked her, a lot. He tried to distich himself from his emotions, at least while he got her down, but he'd failed her. He promised her she would be safe here. He sent her away, and she'd been here all day. Nobody had come for her. He felt sick again, but pushed the thoughts from his mind, almost hoping she had fallen unconscious, because he didn't think he could handle her accusing stare right now. Not when he was so sick with guilt.

He got to work on her ankles quickly, muttering curses to find that the small stakes had been soaked in vervain. His guilt piqued again, she must have been in so much pain. The small stakes were lodged deeper than he'd expected, which meant that she fought. A small sense of pride fluttered deep in his chest at the realization, followed by another wave of fresh guilt. She shouldn't have had to fight this hard or this long. He should have been there.

"Damon." She whispered, as though she could hear his thoughts. Pain gripped his heart at the sound of her beautiful voice, so weak and strained.

"Don't try to talk." He rasped. He couldn't look at her, not now. He made quick work of her ankles, handling them as delicately as he was able. He focused on her wrists, then, gingerly handling them with such care she almost forgot how badly they hurt. She relished his touch, it was so comforting after a day of complete horror.

"You haven't been feeding." He muttered to himself, but she had no energy to reply. She had been, she just hadn't gotten to it yet this morning. She was barely out of the shower when Rebekah grabbed her. She tried to speak, but this time the sirebond stopped her. If she had more energy she would be frustrated, but she was just so exhausted.

This was the part he was dreading most, freeing her neck. The chain came off easy enough, but she'd struggled so hard that a few stakes had really gotten in deep. They both winced as he slid each small stake out, finally freeing her from her place on the wall.

"I'm sorry." He stroked her cheek as he removed each one, still refusing to look at her. She wanted to speak so badly, she wanted to tell him that she was sorry for not fighting harder, for making her leave Jeremy. She wanted to tell him she was mad at him for making her leave but she was so grateful that he came back for her. She wanted to kiss him and tell him how she felt about him, but she was so weak. When she was free she slumped against him, and he scooped her into his arms. She tried to stand on her own, but she couldn't. Under any other set of circumstances she would have stayed awake, she would have relished in the feeling of his body so close to hers, cradling her, but she was too tired. She was with Damon now, she was safe, so she let herself drift into the blackness.

.

* * *

**Hey guys, so now things are picking up a little, I hope you like it, please please review and let me know what you think it helps me write alot lot faster. **

**There will be much more Delena next chapter! **

**thanks, -Onalee**


	3. An Understanding

Damon could've watched her sleep. In fact he wanted to. He wanted to watch her sleep for hours. He wanted to stroke her hair and watch her face as she fell into a peaceful slumber. But he couldn't, because she needed to feed and he needed to make sure that she was okay. He looked her over again after laying her on her bed and ran a shaky hand through his hair. The sight of her like this shook him to his core. He was so used to fragile human Elena that seeing her covered in this amount of blood made him sick, because if she was still human, she'd be dead. He shuddered at the word, trying not to give it much though.

_Just don't picture it._

But he couldn't help it, the image of her limp against her restraints, covered in her own blood, it was an image that was going to stick with him. It was forever burned into his mind unfortunately.

He didn't know what to do. That wasn't true, he knew what had to be done. He would give her some blood, clean her up, make sure she was okay, and then he would go find Stefan. He assumed Bonnie was holding down the lakehouse, and if she had any problems at least she would have the common sense to _call_ him. He took one calming breath, he couldn't get upset right now, not when Elena needed him. The problem was, he didn't know what to do about the fact that he was so head over heels in love with this girl that it _hurt_.

He wanted to believe that what she felt was real, but if it wasn't…He forced himself to abandon the train of thought he'd been following every moment since he found of she was sired to him. Maybe a week ago he could've brought himself to let her go, to _really_ let her go. But now every time he saw her his heart panged with the thought of her in his bed, laughing with him, moaning with him. He thought of her face as she came undone in his arms over and over again, the way she'd whispered his name an made it sound like a prayer. He'd seen her smiling and happy and more _alive_ than she'd ever been. Maybe it was the sirebond. The part of him that valued his self preservation told him that it was most definitely the sirebond, but he couldn't bring himself to completely believe it.

And now that he'd _had _her, he didn't think he could ever let her go, not really anyway. But he needed to, he should. He just fucking _couldn't_.

"Elena." He spoke softly at first, sitting on the edge of her bed. He stroked her face, trying to get her to open her eyes. When his attempt failed he held a blood bag to her lips hoping she would wake. After a moment she stirred and began to slowly drink with her eyes still closed. He let out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding as a small amount of relief washed through him. She was going to be okay. Her eyes suddenly fluttered open at the sound of his breathing and she tried to sit up.

"Just relax, I've got more blood." He urged. Her eyes were locked on his, wide with what seemed like sadness, or maybe hopefulness, he couldn't tell. But they were desperately searching his. He touched her shoulder in an attempt to make her lay back down and she instantly responded, desperately grasping for his hand. Another day he might've pulled away, but not now. He was too weak to refuse her, especially like this. Her skin felt so soft in his, and her grip was so tight. It would've hurt had he been human.

She finished the first bag and he smoothly gave her another, monitoring the slowly closing wounds on her neck. She sucked down the blood bag quickly and before he could pull it away from her she started to speak.

"Thank you for saving me." She whispered, her eyes latching onto his like they were the only thing in the world that mattered. He nodded; unable to speak for fear that he might give his barely concealed emotions away.

"Let's clean you up." He ripped his hand away, and pretended that the look of devastation that consumed her didn't physically pain him. He started for her bathroom and turned on the hot water, letting it run while he braced the side of the sink, trying to get a grip. He wanted to kill something, right now. He also wanted to grab Elena and make love to her until she forgot her own name. He wanted to hold her so tightly that she couldn't possibly doubt whether or not he wanted to be there. He wanted to rip Stefan limb from limb until he understood just exactly what had happened to Elena today. But he couldn't do any of those things, and it was taking every ounce of self-control he'd ever had and then some to stop himself.

"Damon." She whispered, her voice full of concern as she placed her soft touch on his arm. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to think about her hand on him, but he made the mistake of looking at her touching him, dried blood covering her hand. He shook his head and gently pulled himself from her grasp, turning to look at her. The rejection was written all over her face and he tried to ignore it, but it was almost impossible. He couldn't stand the thought that he was causing this girl he was so madly in love with any more pain. He'd done enough, especially today,

"Damon?" She questioned again, her voice breaking a little. He shut his eyes again, unable to look at her while he gained control. "Are you mad at me?" His eyes snapped open at the question,.

"No." He said harshly, cursing inwardly, how could she possibly think he was mad at her? After the way he found her? She should be the one angry with him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know she was undaggered—

"Elena do not apologize." He cut her off, not moving from his rigid position a few feet away from her. She looked as though he'd physically struck her and it occurred to him that he needed to explain himself, right now.

"You looked dead." He blurted without eloquence. His fists were balled up at his sides as he stared at her, willing her to understand. Her expression softened just the slightest, and he started to shake with an overwhelming mixture of rage, lust, relief and frustration. "You looked _dead_." He repeated, his voice going hoarse. She seemed to understand just then, and took a tentative step toward him. He made no move to stop her, this time he was the one who didn't have to will or energy to fight it. He needed to touch her .

She seemed to understand and wrapped her delicate arms around his torso, sliding them between his arms and under his jacket. She took another step forward, and pressed her body against his, laying her cheek against his chest and squeezing him so tightly that it was borderline uncomfortable. It was exactly how he needed her to touch him right now. She didn't say anything, she just held him, rubbing her hands up and down his back and he let her. He allowed himself to feel her against him, to listen to the dull thud of her heart beating in her chest. He let her comfort him, ignoring the irony of it. He got lost in the rhythmic sound of her breathing and eventually he locked an arm around her, crushing her to him with even more force and used his other hand to stroke her hair.

They stood there until she placed a soft kiss on the fabric of his t-shirt and he shuddered. This time he took great caution in pulling away from her as to not hurt her feelings. Let his hands linger on her arms, and then pulled one up to cup her cheek. She leaned into his hand, searching his eyes, looking for answers to questions that he couldn't give her.

Elena's heart panged for Damon and for herself. Now she had to convince him to stay, or to let her go with him but she didn't know how. She considered playing dirty, she seriously considered it, but she decided he'd suffered enough today and so had she. She reached over and turned off the water, Damon looked like he might protest but she cut him off before he had the chance. He was feeling guilty and as much as she hated that, it meant that it was probably the best time to try and have this conversation before he closed off to her completely.

"It's ice cold now, I'll shower in a minute, we should talk first." She sighed.

"Let's talk then." He agreed, leading her by the hand back to her bed. She was encouraged by the contact, she smiled at it, but tried not to get her hopes up, not too much anyway.

"You sending me away, was unfair." She began, deciding that she was taking charge of this conversation before he had the chance to order her around again.

"Elena—

"No, you don't get to talk right now, I do. You took away my choice, and trust me, I understand where you're coming from, but you go from zero to sixty so fast that I hardly have any time to keep up." She began, her hand still safely in his. She was encouraged that he'd made no real attempt to stop her and she continued.

"Being away from you is literally painful, that's not the sirebond okay? In case you've forgotten Tyler has one too and he's not going around feeling anything for Klaus." She sighed, he looked like he might interject again, "And yes, I understand that the Klaus/Tyler situation is different from you and I, but the basic principles still stand. I want to be with you, that's not the sirebond talking, because being with you wouldn't make you happy right now, it would make _me _happy. I know you're wary to understand that right now, but you have to believe me when I say that this is real for me. This is real for us. Maybe we can't be together right now, I understand if you still think you're doing 'right' by me but you can't just send me away. You have to meet me halfway here or I'll go crazy." She glanced up through her eyelashes, trying not to blush as she so desperately searched his expression for signs that he had absorbed what she was trying to say.

He sighed, "I'm going to find this cure for you, okay?" He paused, gripping her hand tightly. "And I need you to not hate me when we finally break this sirebond, so we have to have…an understanding." He continued, literally hating himself for doing this. She smiled a small smile at the words he'd chosen. "But I'll stay, and I'll bring Jeremy and Matt back here. He's more in control now, I think he can handle it."

Elena was astonished for a moment, but tried not to let the look register on her features, then she grinned so brightly it was impossible for him to ignore it.

"We can't sleep together Elena." He said quickly, as though she'd misinterperated. Her smile faltered but she nodded quickly, she hadn't expected him to compromise at all, so any wiggle room at this point was perfectly okay with her.

"Not yet." She replied and this time Damon was the one to smile.

Blahblahblah

.

* * *

.

Stefan was panicking. He had been for hours now and as he heard the unmistakable sound of Damon's camero squeal up in the driveway of the boarding house his panic gripped him like a vice.

"You told him?" He rounded on Caroline, who crossed her arms unapologetically.

"Bonnie told him." She stated plainly. "And before you even lecture me, what was your next move?" She spat, before he answered Damon strolled casually into the living room and headed towards the bar area to pour himself a drink. It would have been the most normal thing in the word, except he looked like absolute _shit_. Stefan zeroed in on the blood spattered all over Damon's jacket and realized quickly that it wasn't his, it was Elena's.

"Is she okay?" The question came out of his mouth before he had time to think about it, and Damon let out a dry laugh before downing his bourbon in one swig and pouring himself another.

"How many stakes have you had in you at once Stefan?" Damon asked casually, but Stefan could hear the malice barely concealed in his façade, very, very soon Damon would probably attack him physically and he didn't know whether or not he deserved it. He refused to answer the question, but Damon seemed unperturbed.

"Maybe 5 or 6 I'm guessing." He said. Stefan eyed him, trying not to focus on anything other than when his brother would strike. He was livid, that much Stefan could tell, which meant that he'd gotten to Elena, and she was okay. If she hadn't been, Damon wouldn't be here.

"Do you know how many stakes I pulled out of Elena today?" He questioned, taking another swig of bourbon straight from the bottle. Stefan froze, not wanting to visualize Elena staked. He didn't want to visualize Elena at all if he was being honest.

"37." Stefan tensed and suddenly felt sick. "I pulled thirty-seven vervain soaked stakes out of Elena's unconscious, bleeding body tonight after she'd been tortured, interrogated and chained to a wall for fourteen hours." Stefan tried not to picture it, but suddenly he was growing incredibly angry at Rebekah, if she thought he would help her now she was out of her mind.

"What did Rebekah want?" Stefan didn't know why he'd asked, maybe it was because he really hated his brother right now, or maybe he just wanted to get Damon to attack him sooner rather than later. Either way he didn't fight it as Damon charged at him.

Caroline watched in silent horror as Damon pinned his brother to the wall and lifted him by the throat before he staked him in the gut.

"Damon!" Caroline took a step towards them, but he shot her a look that told her to stay right where she was. She crossed her arms over her chest and resolved that if he took it any further she would intervene, but they did need to talk and knowing Damon it was going to come down to blows anyway. Stefan was wrong for what he did today and Damon was wrong for doing whatever the hell he was doing to Elena, but to get anywhere they needed to call a truce.

"Did you really just ask me what _Rebekah_ wanted?" He hissed in his brother's face, tempted to stake him again, but where it would count. Stefan struggled but kept his mouth shut.

"Rebekah showed up here last night and you didn't even give Elena a head's up? The one girl Rebekah hates more than anyone?" His tone was low and menacing as she squeezed on Stefan's throat. Caroline tensed, ready to step in. "And then when you failed to find her, you didn't even _call_?" His tone grew darker with every syllable. "Another hour and Rebekah might have gotten bored enough to kill her." He spat.

"She wouldn't have—

"I know Elena isn't worth anything to you as a vampire but newsflash in order to turn her back into a human she needs to be _alive. _So give me one good reason not to pluck your miserable heart out of your chest because I'm getting pretty fucking sick of cleaning up your messes _brother._" Damon spat and Stefan did nothing. He hated his brother right now. He hated him for sleeping with Elena, for loving her, for stealing her right from under him but today she almost died and he did feel guilty, not for neglecting to call his brother, but for not finding her himself.

"You slept with her." Stefan spat, a new force of anger flooding through him. Damon faltered, and Stefan took advantage of that to get himself out of his brothers grasp and pull the stake out of his stomach.

"I should kill you." Stefan growled.

"And I you." Damon agreed, poised and ready to attack with another stake in hand.

"Elena will never forgive me if I let you two kill each other so why don't you both do me a favor and call it even, for now." Caroline interjected, finding her voice and stepping between the two vampires. Silence followed and she rolled her eyes. "Seriously, no one is going to be able to put this behind them until we find the cure and that would be a lot easier if you two put away your feud for five seconds so we can get this done."

"I still hate you." Stefan barked.

"The feeling is mutual." Damon sneered back.

"I'll stop trying to kill you if you stop trying to kill me." Stefan said after a moment of tension filled silence.

"Trust me, if I tried to kill you, you'd be dead, and you will be the next time you choose your pride over her life. Or her choices over her life. Or a peanut butter fucking sandwich over her life."

"Fuck you Damon."

.

* * *

.

"Hey Elena, how are you feeling, I was just coming to look for you." Bonnie strode into Elena's bedroom purposefully, her hands chock full of grimores, books and other documentation.

"Better." Elena sighed truthfully. She'd heard Bonnie coming, and finished up writing in her diary.

"Hey." Jeremy poked his head around the corner and smiled genuinely at her.

"Jer!" Elena was careful to use her human speed to cross the room and envelope her brother in a hug.

"I heard you had a rough day." He swallowed and pulled away from her and her heart panged, he was fighting to keep in control she could feel it in his heartbeat and the way he broke into a sweat.

"Yeah, I did. I'm much better now though." She replied, giving him a small smile to show she was genuine.

"Good. I'm gonna head out with Matt and grab some food at the grill, I'll see you a little later, love you."

"Love you too Jer." Elena replied, waiting until he was out of earshot to give Bonnie a meaningful look.

"He's doing alright. It's still hard for him though, and with every kill it gets more difficult." She insisted. "He'll come around." She said, touching Elena's arm softly.

"I know, I know." She conceded. There was a pause before Bonnie gave her a once over and laughed.

"What's with the outfit?" She grinned. Suddenly Elena was embarrassed, pulling on her too-short sweatpants and t-shirt from 3 years ago.

"I left most of my clothes at the boarding house and Damon brought me here after he came and got me." She explained bashfully.

"Well you have to go back there, you can't go around looking like this." She giggled. Elena smiled.

"I know, I just thought I'd give Damon a little time…you know to de-stress." She said. Elena wrung her hands anxiously, the truth was she was both nervous and excited to go back to the boarding house tonight. She missed Damon, but one wrong move and he'd push her away so fast she wouldn't see it coming.

"Hey, we'll figure it out." Bonnie insisted, moving past her to dump her books on Elena's bed. "In the meantime, I've been thinking about all this sirebond stuff, and the more you talk about it the more I think there might be another solution." Bonnie began to spread out her papers and Elena was instantly at her side.

"Tell me." She tried to keep the desperate edge off her voice, but she honestly couldn't care less about it right now, if there was a way around the sirebond without having to put her brother through this she was all for it.

"Alright, think about it with me for just a minute. Damon was in love with Katherine when he turned, those were real feelings, human ones, but you said that Stefan was compelled to love her, and they were both turned with her blood, so technically Damon should have been sired to her." Bonnie started, "He was obsessed with her, everything he did was for her for 150 years and then suddenly only days after she showed up, he completely hated her." She said.

"She must have freed him." Elena gasped, unable to help herself. She didn't know why neither of them had considered it, of _course _Damon was sired to Katherine.

"Right, so at first I thought she had to have done it unknowingly, I mean why wouldn't she want him sired to her? It would work in her favor to order him around all day long to do her bidding, but then I realized that unless a sirebond has a bizarre time limit there's no way she could have just so happened to free him." Bonnie continued. Elena tucked her hair behind her ears, listening intently. "So that was when I started to do my digging. I'm a Bennet witch and I figured maybe I did a spell or something and she compelled me, or who knows I just started looking, and that was when I came across a missing page in the grimore." She paused flipping to show Elena where a page had been carefully torn out. "At first I thought it was nothing, but there was one sentence at the beginning of the next page that made me question it." She pointed to the lines at the top of the next page, which Elena then read aloud.

"...similarly blood shared between two vampires heightens emotions towards each other but does not give one power over the other." Elena tried to soak that information in. "So similar to a sire bond? The missing page is about sire bonds?" She asked, her heart beating frantically in her chest.

"I don't know, I mean maybe. All I know is that it's more than likely that Katherine knows how to break a sire bond, and if you can find her, my bet is that you can break yours." Bonnie reasoned. Elena nodded and it was suddenly decided. She was going to find Katherine.

.

* * *

.

When Damon informed Stefan that he'd be back in the boarding house he took that as a cue and promptly packed a bag before taking off to Barbie's place. Damon shook his head and poured himself another drink before heading up to his room. Elena would probably be here soon, and if she didn't show up on her own he'd have to go tell her she couldn't sleep anywhere near her brother. He ran a hand through his hair, deciding he needed to take a somewhat relaxing shower before she got here or he'd never be able to sleep tonight. He probably wouldn't anyway.

The moment he stepped into his bedroom he froze and almost dropped his glass. Her smell was _everywhere_. It became apparent that she'd not only been staying I the boarding house, but she'd been in his fucking bedroom. She'd been sleeping in his _bed._ He downed his glass in one gulp and audibly groaned. This girl was going to be the fucking death of him. He tried not to think about it as he made his way quickly towards his bathroom, but when he opened his dresser drawer to grab a pair of boxers he lost his mind. He stood there, unable to think, unable to move because his eyes were completely and utterly focused on the contents of this drawer.

Next to his neatly folded boxers, which he absolutely _loathed _wearing, were a dozen pairs of tiny lacy underwear that he knew belonged to Elena Fucking Gilbert. He slammed the drawer shut and closed his eyes. The only reason he even went in that drawer was in case she showed up. He had thought that it would be easier to resist her if he wasn't butt ass naked like he preferred to be at night. She'd moved her underwear in. The realization struck him like a knife to the chest because under any other set of circumstances he would be on cloud fucking nine.

Then he was throwing open all his drawers and lo and behold Elena's belongings in almost all of them. She had been so courteous about it, she barely moved anything of his at all. If there wasn't a sirebond, he would be so fucking elated that it would hurt. He would pretend that it was nothing, but in the back of his mind he would be celebrating because this girl was moving in with him. He shut the drawers quickly and continued toward the shower, hoping to wash away all evidence of today from his body and maybe release some tension. He was going to go insane if he didn't.

He stripped down and stepped in the tub, making the water so hot that he was sure it would scald his skin if he wasn't a vampire. He was so gone over this girl it wasn't even funny. Here she was, walking in and making his every dream come true and he had to tell her no. It was so fucking ironic. This wasn't him, it wasn't who he was. He _wanted_ her. He wanted her so bad, and the only thing standing in his way was him. She would gladly sleep with him if he only said the word. It was such a role reversal that he couldn't wrap his mind around it, which lead to him doubting that she knew what was real, which was the whole reason they couldn't sleep together, not yet.

He kept holding onto that not yet.

.

* * *

.

Of course Elena wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell him that she was determined to break this sirebond, no matter the cost. She wanted to tell him that she was going to look for Katherine, but he would object, she knew it. So she was keeping it to herself. Even after the treacherous events of the day, she was exhausted and found herself nodding off as she sat by her windowsill.

It was Jeremy who finally came in and asked when she was going back to the boarding house.

It hurt.

But at least he'd asked her instead of implying she needed to leave by sticking a stake through her throat. She supposed that must be progress. She thought she would use her speed to get to the boarding house, but after realizing just how tired she was, she settled for walking. She looked ridiculous, but she didn't care. She needed the time to think anyways. She didn't want to step on Damon's toes, after all they were trying to have an understanding, however she didn't think she could sleep without him, not tonight.

She could hear him showering when she entered the house, and took the opportunity to change in his bedroom, where most of her clothes were located. She settled for a pair of more conservative pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. It might not have been the most comfortable, but Damon would object less to her presence if it wasn't obvious that she was blatantly attempting to seduce him. She settled herself on the edge of his bed, waiting for him. It occurred to her that she should possibly wait somewhere else, but her limbs were becoming heavier and heavier by the second. She lay down on top of the comforter, briefly closing her eyes, soon he would walk in, and she could ask him if this was okay, if she could sleep in here, and he would have to say yes.

.

* * *

.

She was asleep by the time Damon left the bathroom, and if that wasn't enough to make him forgive her for frustrating him on every level then nothing ever would be. He took a long moment to appreciate just how hard she was trying, to make himself remember that she wasn't doing this on purpose. For one she hadn't tried to _join_ him in the shower, and she wasn't naked in his bed either. It was endearing as much as frustrating, the way she lay gingerly atop the sheets, not daring to creep beneath them. Damon let himself breathe deeply and smile a little at this moment. He reached out to stroke her cheek, unsurprised when she didn't stir. She'd been through too much today, and maybe this wasn't right, but tonight it was what she wanted.

He gently lifted her and slid the covers over her small body before slipping under them himself. She stirred and made a small noise before clinging to his body. She lay her head in the crook of his neck and tucked herself against him, her hand on his chest, like it was the most natural action in the world. She was so soft and pliable next to him and suddenly his whole body was on fire. He yearned to touch her, this girl that he loved so fucking much. The only thing he wanted to do was hold her right now, to assure himself that she was real. When she was in his arms he could fantasize about a world where everything was exactly the same, minus the sirebond and Klaus and every other annoying thing in this town.

_Get a grip._ He thought to himself before he reluctantly slid an arm around her waist, pulling her impossibly closer.

She nuzzled in his neck and he suppressed a throaty moan. This girl was going to kill him, he was absolutely positive of it.

"Is this okay?" Her voice, imperceptible to the human ear surprised him and he took a moment to truly think about his answer. Of course it wasn't okay. Nothing about anything that had happened to this beautiful girl lying beside him in the last two years was even half way okay. It wasn't fair and it wasn't right. He studied her face, her eyes were still closed, but they fluttered beneath her eyelids, her face was filled with underlying tension. Her heartbeat had picked up in anticipation of his answer. No, this was not okay, but it hadn't been for years and if this was what she needed tonight, then fuck what was _okay_.

"Yes." He voiced, barely above a whisper. All the tension fled from her face and she smiled. He decided then that it was definitely okay, and tightened his grip on her. It only took a few moments before she succumbed to sleep and he watched her for a few moments, only allowing himself the same indulgence when he was sure she wouldn't wake up until morning.

* * *

**a/n: Thanks so much for your reviews, they definitely make me write faster! Please let me know what you think!**

**-Onalee **


	4. Hunting

"You mean _more_ hunters?" Jeremy groaned, unable to stop himself.

"They'll help you Jeremy, they'll help you understand who you're dealing with. They'll help you see that those things you call family are monsters. Your sister _died_ and the sooner you bury her the easier—

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Jeremy spat. "I heard you the first hundred times. "She's still my sister, I know you probably hold a grudge since she killed you—

"Are you so far gone that you can't understand what's wrong with that?" Connor's ghost demanded. Jeremy shrugged. He'd been seeing Connor for a while now, he was used to the anti-vampire rants. He'd learned to tune it out like racial slurs from a grandparent stuck in their old ways.

"So who's this new hunter, what's he look like?" Jeremy asked, getting dressed for school, hoping Matt wasn't listening in. He didn't exactly want the whole world knowing he was taking tips from the one and only person his sister had murdered.

"You'll find out sooner or later I'm sure, hunters tend to stick together, he'll see your mark." Connor replied. Jeremy rolled his eyes, he didn't know why but lately Connor had been coming through a lot more often, mostly just to annoy the absolute shit of our Jeremy by spewing his anti-vampire bullshit, but every once in a while he said something useful.

"Is he here now?" Jeremy asked.

"Oh, he's here. I'm sure he'll make his presence abundantly clear soon."

.

* * *

.

Is this what her life had come to? She thought as she lay next to Damon, her eyes tightly shut, her body as close to him as it had been when she'd fallen asleep. It was the best sleep she'd gotten since the last time they shared a bed, in fact it was pretty much the only decent sleep she'd gotten since then. She'd been awake for over an hour but she didn't want to be, as soon as she got up or woke him they'd end up with a ten foot barrier between them for the rest of the day, and possibly for the rest of her undead life. She hated living like this, walking on eggshells with him. It wasn't them. They needed to get out the tension, sexual and otherwise.

She risked a glance at him from under her lashes, and couldn't stop the grin that spread on her face. He was so relaxed that it was almost painful for her to see, to know that he was hardly ever like this. A strange sense of pride filled her chest at the notion that she was the one who made him so calm and she suddenly wondered if that was the sirebond. She let out a small huff of frustration. This sirebond bullshit was really starting to taint everything she thought and felt and she was sick of it.

She was going to find Katherine, the problem was she didn't know where to start looking, and the one person who probably could help her the most was sound asleep beside her, painfully oblivious to her plan, and it had to stay that way. Before she could linger on the thought any longer her senses kicked into overdrive and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. Someone was here.

"How cute." Drawled Rebekah, leaning in Damon's door frame.

Damon had her by the throat before Elena could blink and she poised herself for attack.

"Don't strain yourself." She scoffed, flicking Damon's arm off her. "I was just complimenting how you two look together." She grinned, "sire and siremaster, it's so sweet." She laughed. Elena tried to keep herself under control, but her rage was bubbling just beneath the surface. She clenched her fists, attempting to stay calm. Not only did she hate Rebekah, but she had just ruined what could have been a blissful morning.

"What do you want Rebekah?" Damon's voice was cold and demanding, clearly he was still holding a grudge for yesterday.

"Just making sure you have intentions of upholding our deal." She shrugged. "So what's on the agenda today?" She asked coyly, traipsing around him, trailing a finger on his bare shoulders. Elena tried once again not to let her jealousy and rage shine through.

"You dropping in on me every morning wasn't part of the deal Rebekah, get the hell out." He spat, inching closer to Elena as inconspicuously as he could manage.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, I can see you were _busy, _I'll come back later." She smirked, staring Elena directly in the eye. Elena had half a mind to break Damon's bedpost and stab her in the chest just to get a little satisfaction out of her day, but she decided against it, antagonizing Rebekah wasn't exactly on her to do list, and Damon's bed was not a casualty she was willing to overlook.

"And when I come back I want to know just how big your little brother's mark has grown." She quipped before slipping out of the room. One moment passed before Damon turned back to Elena,

"Not the wakeup call I'd been hoping for." He smirked, picking up a t-shirt and throwing it over his head with ease.

"Me either." She confessed, feeling a little guilty about ambushing him in bed last night. "I don't know about you, but last night was the best night of sleep I've gotten in what seems like forever." She started, taking a hesitant step towards him. "I know we can't be together, but I won't hate you for giving me a good night's sleep. I won't hate you for anything, but I really couldn't ever hate you for that." She gave him a small smile and peeked up at him through her lashes, threatening to undo him.

He had to admit, last night was amazing. He'd barely woken up at all, and when he did having her in his arms was the most soothing comfort he could think of. He was too tired to feel guilty, too comfortable to push her away based on principal. It was innocent, it was as innocent as Damon could possibly be without torturing himself, and if he was confident that neither one of them would give into temptation he would've agreed to her sharing a bed with him wholeheartedly. The fact that she was standing there practically begging him to sleep in the same bed with her, to _let _her sleep in his bed was hilarious to him, well it would be if it wasn't so fucking frustrating.

"I'm holding you to that Elena." He made sure to latch his eyes to hers, just so she knew exactly how much he meant that. Their bodies were just inches apart now and both thrumming with desire, he could practically feel the sexual tension rolling off her in waves. It was too much.

"I've got some stuff to take care of." He started, reaching out to tuck her hair behind her ear. He let his fingers linger on her cheek and she leaned into his touch, refusing to break eye contact. She nodded in understanding. "Rebekah won't be back, so don't worry about her, but just in case I'm thinking we might want our favorite hunter on the deed to the house." She gave him a small smile at his remark.

"He'll probably set the record for most real estate in Mystic Falls."

"Probably." He answered.

.

* * *

.

"This is disgusting!" Caroline shrieked, snapping the neck of another soon to be vampire. _Ex-con and soon to be vampire_. "I mean how many more of these people do I have to turn?" She demanded, stomping across the parking lot.

"As many as it takes, love." Klaus smiled at her. It only infuriated her more. She cocked her head and put her hand on her hip, unwilling to take that as an answer.

"Is there any reason _I'm_ the only one of us covered in blood?" She spat.

"Would you prefer me in blood? Just say the word, there are thousands of people who probably have it coming—

"Uhg you are impossible!" She shrieked again, throwing her hands up dramatically.

"Where do you think you're going?" He called after her, somewhat concerned she was leaving so soon.

"In case you haven't noticed, I've left a pile up of murderers in the middle of the parking lot so I was thinking I'd move them to your trunk." She said while completing her task at vampire speed.

Klaus only smiled at her, the smile she hated the most, the one that riled her up, egged her on and reminded her what a maniacal killer he was. She stalked over to the passenger side and slammed the door shut, crossing her arms tightly over her chest, refusing to look at him while he took his sweet time getting in the car.

"You are such an asshole." She muttered, unable to help herself. Klaus had _almost_ become tolerable before he went all psycho and killed Tyler's mom, not to mention the dozen of brand new friends Tyler had become so attached to. Now he was insufferable on every level. Unfortunately, everyone seemed to need him on their side right now, including her.

She was currently the only thing preventing Klaus from going full speed ahead in his revenge plot to slowly kill his last hybrid, a fact that she was constantly reminding him of.

"You should work on your manners." He commented brightly, unfazed by her apparent disgust.

"You should really work on not drowning people." She snapped back. It wasn't clever, but it did the job, his smile slid off his face as quickly as he'd put it on. She hated him, now more than ever. In her quest to convince him not to kill Tyler he'd recruited her as his personal slave, being his company in his quest for the cure, and she made it as miserable for him as possible without him backing out.

She guessed it might not be so bad if she was reaping any benefits. For instance if she knew that Tyler was alive somewhere that might help her motivation. Klaus claimed to know just exactly where Tyler was hiding, but she was just about ready to call his bluff. The problem was she didn't want him to know that she didn't know either. They were at a stalemate, both of them knew it, but not really. It was easier for her to pretend that someone knew that Tyler was alive and well and hiding, even if it was Klaus.

Spending so much time with him hadn't softened her impression of him in the slightest, nor had it helped her find out anything new about the cure. He was almost more wary of her as she was of him, but it didn't stop him from basically holding her ransom.

"Would you take it, if you had the opportunity to?" He'd asked her a few nights ago as she sat by the fire, flipping through journal after journal he'd asked her to search through. She'd guessed it was a way to keep her there longer, and maybe shut her up but she looked through them anyways, just in case there was something useful there. It could have been a peaceful night, if Klaus hadn't been watching her from twelve feet away the whole time. Whenever she looked up he was reading, but she felt his eyes on her.

"Excuse me?" She asked.

"I mean Elena's going to get the cure, but if there's enough for more than one vampire, do you want it?" He clarified.

Caroline had been stunned into silence because the truth was, she didn't know. A year ago she would have jumped at the opportunity, and some days she still would. But being a vampire, it was her thing now. She was _good_ at it. Sometimes she kind of even liked it. Not that she would ever admit that to Klaus.

"Why, are you going to kill someone for me to get it?" She retorted, but he ignored her.

"I didn't think so." He said smugly before returning to his reading with a big shit eating grin plastered on his stupid psychotic face.

The words had haunted her for days, and the more she thought about them the more confused she got. Before she turned she wanted to live a normal life. She wanted to marry a guy like matt and have kids and a dog with him and live in Mystic Falls until she died. But now things were different. She didn't want a life like that anymore, not just because of _what _she'd become, but also because of _who _she'd become. She'd gotten so used to the idea of forever that it seemed so farfetched to be anything else. It'd gotten her thinking about it and she was afraid that maybe she didn't want to go back.

It got her thinking that maybe there was something her and Klaus had in common after all, which made her want to barf.

.

* * *

.

Caroline sat in Klaus' armchair, waiting for the new vampires to wake up while Damon, Klaus and Stefan continued chit chatting. She was impressed with the way they were interacting, very few petty remarks were thrown, and no stakes at all. Between the three of them she was sure someone would be picking splinters out of their gut tonight.

But the conversation had gone quite smoothly. Damon and Stefan were waiting when she and Klaus arrived. Stefan shot her a quizzical look, but she ignored it. Later she would assure him she was fine, but right now she was too annoyed to say so. She made herself busy unloading the still dead murderers from the truck after she was sure the conversation between the three vampires wasn't going anywhere particularly murderous.

At first they'd just talked logistics about Jeremy's mark and the vampires he'd have to kill. It was decided that as long as Caroline was picking out murderers no one had any protests. She suspected that Klaus just wanted to go on more road trips with her, which was why he didn't insist on a more convenient way. She rolled her eyes.

When Rebekah came up everyone was pretty stiff. Apparently Damon had stricken a deal with her that he would share information about the cure with her in exchange for Elena's safety. Stefan and Damon wouldn't even look at each other throughout _that _conversation. Caroline was positive Klaus would lose it when Damon said he intended to follow through, but instead he nodded and assured him that he would keep his sister under wraps. Caroline had a sneaking suspicion that sooner rather than later Rebekah would find herself right back in her coffin. She deserved it though, after what she did to Elena. Caroline shuddered at the thought. 37 stakes was too much to even imagine, especially for a newbie.

It wasn't until Damon began asking about the future that Caroline's interest really spiked. Things were beyond tense when he started talking about post-cure life. It wasn't like Damon to think so far ahead, in fact it was kind of impressive.

"Well considering the last time I left her protection to the likes of you two she ended up at the bottom of a river—

"Thanks to your sister." Damon retorted.

"Where she died, thanks to your brother." Klaus countered. Stefan tensed and looked like he might say something, Caroline almost did on his behalf, but they both opted against it.

"We'll call it a draw then." Damon quipped, his arms crossed tightly over his chest, preparing for a negotiation.

"I should take her with me, and kill both of you before we leave." Klaus said smoothly.

"Motivation to find the cure just went out the window." Damon replied dryly.

"However she's quite difficult, and you do seem to protect her within an inch of your life." He shrugged, swirling around his drink. Klaus was playing with him, but it didn't look like Damon was taking the bait. He seemed unfazed.

"If you cross me I will take her from you, rip both your hearts out and never compel her to forget that she saw it happen." He said gravely. "Since that's a lot of work I'd be willing to leave her in your care, but don't cross me, or she'll be gone and you'll be dead before you can blink." Klaus threatened, stepping up to Damon. Damon pursed his lips, and Caroline rolled her eyes again. She was getting really tired of all Klaus' graphic threats.

The conversation might have come to blows if the newly transitioning murderers hadn't started twitching on the floor. Fortunately Damon gave Klaus a stiff nod, seemingly for the sake of prioritization and tossed a blood bag Caroline's way.

"Then let's get this cure."

.

* * *

.

Elena sighed, pulling her hands from the professor's.

"It's not working." She conceded. Shane shook his head.

"You have to try harder, imagine that it's a line you have to cross, a mental image you have to conjure, it will help." He insisted, but she shook her head, she was exhausted. After Damon left the boarding house she headed to Jeremy's where Bonnie was deep in concentration.

"I'm almost there Elena, I think I can make this spell work." She said excitedly. Bonnie's new powers were great, but they set of big red warning flashers in Elena's mind, she was worried for her friend. But she seemed in control and they really needed her to keep practicing. As long as Shane could keep an eye on her she'd be alright, at least Elena really hoped so.

"What spell Bon?" She asked, opening a blood bag from the fridge and pouring it into her favorite childhood mug as inconspicuously as she could manage.

"I think I can use your doppelganger blood to find Katherine. I mean I thought about it and you're her descendant, and maybe since you're a vampire now the connection will be stronger, and with this spell I'm almost positive it'll work." She grinned.

"Bonnie that's incredible." Elena grinned. In all honesty, the sooner they found Katherine, the better. If she could break this sirebond without the cure she would. "Thank you." She said softly, hugging her friend. She hadn't seen Bonnie this excited about magic for a long time, and while she worried it was good to see her happy.

When Shane came in to check on Bonnie, he and Elena had gotten to talking about the sirebond and he offered to help. While she was reluctant to trust him he was doing great things for Bonnie, and she didn't doubt that he knew a thing or two about sirebonds. For the entire afternoon he'd been trying to get her to picture different things in her mind, to tap into the sirebond and its' existence to overcome it, but it was mentally exhausting and frustrating.

"Elena I can help you overcome this." He insisted, relighting the candles in her living room that were supposedly setting up some kind of powerful energy. Jeremy was in the backyard with Matt, practicing his aim and Bonnie was in her old bedroom, working on the spell. She was momentarily stricken with guilt, everyone was doing this for her once again, and she wasn't even bothering to try with Professor Shane.

"Okay, one more time." She agreed. He grinned and took both of her hands, sitting across from her and she closed her eyes.

"Alright, imagine—

Before he could say a world the front door burst open,

"Hey Jeremy, got some new ex-murderous friends for you to kill." Damon said, strolling into the living room, but he stopped short seeing Elena and Shane. He looked at them critically for half a second before addressing Shane.

"I didn't know you and Bonnie had apparently taken up residence here too." He said snarkily.

"Nice to see you too Damon, Jeremy's out back." Shane said tersely. Damon looked between the two of them once more and caught Elena's eyes, silently asking her if she was alright. Her heart fluttered in her chest and she nodded. He hesitated only one moment more before exiting, presumably to hand over the baby vampires to her baby brother.

Elena dusted herself off; she was flushed, just from the way he had looked at her.

"That's not the sirebond you know." Shane commented, blowing out the candles.

"Excuse me?"  
"The way you two connect, it's not the sirebond. I've seen dozens of them and the way you two connect in unlike that kind of bond, I understand why you're fighting it so hard." He said. She stared at him for a moment, trying to decide if he was being genuine, but a crash outside prevented the conversation from going any further.

"Come on Jer, right in the heart." Damon coached. The sight of what was happening in her own back yard made her sick to her stomach. Her little brother was grappling with a newborn vampire while five others were being held down by Damon, Stefan, Caroline and Klaus. Her heart started hammering hard. She knew it was a little irrational for her to feel like this, Jeremy had been training for this, he wanted this and he was prepared, however watching her little brother kill someone made something inside her snap. She just wanted this to be easy for him.

"Just snap its' neck first!" She shouted, and before she knew what she was doing her overprotective instincts kicked in and she was in the thick of the fight, grasping the head of the vampire until the neck snapped. Before she could move away grey veins bloomed under the surface of the vampire's skin, signifying its death. Jeremy pulled his stake back out of the vampire's chest and another was already coming at them.

"Elena, he needs to do this on his own." Stefan chastised her, attempting to pull her from the fight. She shook him off, but not until after he'd dragged a few yards from where her brother was.

"Stop! Why are you making this hard for him, all he has to do is stake them, we can snap their necks first!" She shrieked. She felt herself losing control, her anger growing by the second.

"But where's the fun in that, love?" Klaus sneered. She spun around to look at Damon, who was pointedly avoiding her gaze by looking at Jeremy. She started back towards her brother.

"Get away from Jeremy Elena, he can do this." Damon argued, releasing the vampire he was holding. Elena looked back to her little brother, drenched in vampire blood, three corpses littering the ground around him with another charging at him. Her body tensed, suddenly aware that she was rooted to the ground, she wanted to go to Jeremy, but the sirebond wanted her to get the hell away from him right now, she was fighting it, but she still couldn't move. She shouted in aggravation, shooting death glares at Damon, who still refused to look at her. She struggled for another few moments, her eyes glued to where Jeremy was, he didn't seem to be struggling at all, in fact he was doing really well. He was killing the vampires almost as fast as she could do it, which was saying something.

She stared in wonder as he little brother killed the last baby vampire, and then he charged at her, devoid of any emotion but rage and burning hatred for what she was. He never would have gotten to her. Not with Caroline, Stefan, Klaus and Damon watching, not to mention the fact that she saw him come at her. Though she was hardly prepared for his attack she could have disarmed him. She wasn't crazy thirsty like the other newbies he'd just killed, she knew how to focus. Fortunately she didn't have to, Damon had her brother pinned to the ground before he could get within five feet of her.

"Get the hell off me!" Jeremy screamed, struggling against Damon. Elena stayed rooted to the spot, her mind desperately trying to catch up to the situation.

"Not until I'm sure you won't touch your sister." Damon snapped, but she could tell it was taking him a bit of effort to keep Jeremy pinned to the ground.

"The only person I want to kill right now is you, so get off me dick!" Jeremy shoved at Damon and he relented, cautiously letting him up, a maneuvering the stake from his grasp.

"A little bloody, but not bad." Stefan commented, rolling over one of the dead vampires with the heel of his shoe.

"Here I'll help." Caroline blurred towards Stefan, hauling bodies over her shoulder before blurring away. Stefan did the same and the whole ordeal just boiled down to a blood stain in her grass, nothing more. Klaus seemed to have disappeared as well, leaving Only Damon, Jeremy, Shane and Bonnie in the yard.

"Elena-" Damon started but she held up a hand and cut him off.

"I'm going to clean up, this…stain." And she blurred away, presumably to gather cleaning supplies.

.

* * *

.

"Hey Tyler, it's me again, just seeing if you were okay." Caroline paused, chewing the inside of her cheek, hot tears prickling beneath her eyelids. She was mad at him. She knew he was upset, she got it, she too had lost a parent and she knew that they weren't even really together right now but she still cared. I mean she cared enough to spend every waking moment of her life entertaining Klaus just so she could have peace of mind. She was beginning to think that maybe Klaus _had _killed Tyler and just wasn't owning up to it. "I know you need your space but you need to call me back, I need to know if you're okay or not and if you are, you shutting me out isn't helping anything." She paused again. "Just call me back Tyler." She sighed into the receiver. "Please."

"You okay?" Stefan stood in her doorway and she jumped a little. You'd think with her vampire senses she would have heard him come through.

"I'm fine." She insisted, wiping her face on the backs of her hands. He frowned and crossed her bedroom sitting on the side of her bed and silently rubbing her shoulders.

"He'll turn up." He insisted. She scoffed.

"Yeah if he isn't already dead." Stefan frowned at that, pulling her into a hug as her sniffles turned into full on sobbing and she clung to him. She cried because she didn't know where Tyler was, because she wanted him to be okay, and because she didn't miss him the way she thought she would, the way she should. And that scared her more than anything else did.

.

* * *

.

_She's not your sister. She's a monster, a killer. Her basic instinct is to drain you, to kill you. _

Jeremy washed his hands again, turning up the hot water in the bathroom sink, trying to get the last of the vampire blood from under his finger nails. Usually he wasn't this hygienic, but he needed it off him, _now._

_She's a monster, wearing your sister's skin. _

He scrubbed harder, his head throbbing and his heart racing. Bonnie had sat with him all evening while Elena showered upstairs and cleaned the stain off the lawn. He was trying desperately to hold onto the part of him that knew she was his sister, but the moment Bonnie and Elena had left he found himself wanting to chase after his own sister.

_Your sister deserves to be put to rest, to move on. This monster is not her. It's hurting her, keeping her from moving on. _

"Fuck." He cursed, shutting off the water and gripping both sides of the sink as he breathed in and out, trying desperately to get a grip on his thoughts. They thoughts had never been like this before, and he'd never ever started to believe them.

"You're thinking about it, aren't you?" Jeremy looked up, startled by Connor's voice, and saw him in the mirror behind him.

"Shut up." He muttered, deciding to wash his hands again. He paused, realizing he hadn't even told her about the other hunter in town. He'd meant to warn her…at least he thought he had meant to.

"She's not your sister anymore Jeremy, and the sooner you see that, the easier this will be for you." Conner said.

"SHUT UP!" Jeremy shouted and he threw a stake across the small bathroom with so much force that it stuck in the wall, but Connor was already gone. He stared at the stake and his eyes widened as he realized he didn't even remember picking it up.

.

* * *

.

Elena picked her poison, downing a couple glasses of Damon's good bourbon while running a hand through her hair. She'd calmed down over the past couple of hours. It took her two showers and a pep talk from Bonnie, but the rage wasn't rolling off her in waves anymore, so that was a start. She was still pissed at Damon, she was pissed that he'd used the sirebond against her, that he'd ignored her and that he didn't tell her his plan was just to let vampires charge at her little brother.

She got it now, Jeremy _was_ prepared for them and if one had started to get the upper hand there were 5 other vampires around to intercept. She'd overreacted, but it was her little brother, and he was doing this for her, she wanted it to be easier for him. She knew Damon was only trying to prepare him in case he actually had to fight a vampire off without backup, however she still didn't like it.

"Taking the edge off?" Damon crossed the room towards her, pulling his own tumbler out and filling it.

"Rough day." She sighed. It was hard to be mad at him when she was this exhausted. She wondered again if feeling like this was partially the sirebond. Professor Shane's words from earlier replayed in her mind and they gave her a little more hope.

"I didn't know you had to work with Shane to help Jeremy overcome his hatred of vampires." He said casually, taking a swig of his drink before pouring another. She studied him for a moment, making eye contact. He was worried. It softened her just a little, before it irritated her.

"He said he could help with the sirebond. He was helping me learn to overcome it with my mind." She replied, that seemed to catch his attention.

"Is it working?"

"Too soon to tell." She shrugged.

"I don't trust him." He said with finality.

"He's really helping Bonnie, I think he could help." She insisted.

"I don't think you should practice anything with him, he could be dangerous. Who knows what he's really doing in your head." Damon countered, taking another drink.

"Is that an _order_?" She sneered at him, her eyes narrowing in anger. He stared her down, refusing to break eye contact.

"Elena." He stated clearly. "The last thing we need is Professor creep-o infiltrating your mind." He insisted, but she shook her head.

"What makes you think I'd let him?" She demanded. She was done being treated like a child around here and she was done being ordered around by Damon.

"He's dangerous." He argued.

"I'm a vampire, I think I can handle him." She snapped.

"I'm getting you this cure okay, I get that you want the sirebond gone, _believe me_, but we already have a way, let's just focus on that—

"Why? So you can order me to stay put again and watch my brother murder another group of people?" She balled her fists against her sides. "I finally have the ability to _do _something Damon and if I can get around this sirebond another way I'll do it—

"What about being human?" He replied.

"What about it!" She shouted. "I died!" He looked taken aback for a moment, but composed himself quickly.

"So has about 90 percent of Mystic Falls, but it can make you human Elena, isn't that what you want?" He asked. His question sounded rhetorical, but she knew better, he wanted her to say it.

"What I want is for you to look at me like I'm not a child!" She paused, letting her words sink in. "Stefan looks at me like I'm a broken toy, like I'm not worth anything unless I'm human, unless I'm _cured._ When you look at me you don't smile anymore. You look at me like I don't know what's good for me—

"Because you don't Elena! What part of _sired_ do you not understand?!" He shouted. "Until you're human neither of us will know if anything you feel is even real."

"You're wrong, I know what I feel!" She screamed back. "And right now I feel like you're an asshole! I bet that doesn't make you happy but that's how I feel, case and point, _Damon_."

"It's not the same Elena and you know it." He shook his head turning his back to her. "Look, we need to focus, we need to find the cure and—

"I don't want the fucking cure." Her confession surprised even her, but she tried not to let it show. She'd thought about it a lot and she'd decided that if she could get around the sirebond without the cure it would be worth it, to save Jeremy the trouble and to not have to worry about Klaus or Shane or anyone. She hadn't really thought about what it would mean to be human again. The truth was these past few weeks she'd really gotten the hang of the vampire thing. She wasn't helpless anymore, and she didn't want to be ever again.

On one hand, yeah, she wanted to grow up, decide if she wanted a family, go to college. But all of that went out the window the second she met the Salvatore brothers and part of her knew that. If she was lucky enough to get out of Mystic Falls in one piece someday it would be nothing short of a supernatural miracle. And even if she got to leave she never really would be able to live a normal human life. She would always be looking over her shoulder, waiting for something to go wrong. Or maybe she would miss the way Damon perched so gracefully in her window at night. She would definitely miss that.

She'd gotten used to supernatural, it was her world now. In a way it always had been. And even if she did get the cure, she would turn again. Whether it was to protect what was left of her makeshift family or because she found a grey hair, she was suddenly so clear. She wanted to be with Damon, and that wasn't something she could do without forever. It definitely wasn't something _he _could do without either. Aside from getting rid of the sirebond, the cure would be wasted on her, utterly wasted. Damon turned around to look at her.

"You're just upset—

"Don't tell me how I feel Damon. Contrary to what you might believe that's the one thing you aren't in charge of." She whispered, reaching out to lay a tentative hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, his gaze burning into hers. She felt her stomach swish with the intensity of it, the desire began to pool low in her belly.

"I'm getting the cure for you, and then you can decide what you want, and I won't stand in the way, no matter what it is." He played with the tips of her hair absently, "Until then I'm going to keep you safe, no matter what you say." He said softly, deciding he was done fighting, but not giving up his position.

Elena looked into his eyes for a long moment, and decided she wasn't mad at him anymore. He had let down a wall for her, and he was being so careful with his words, trying not to command her to do anything she didn't want to. He was trying to be a good person and the last thing she wanted was to make him feel even more conflicted about doing something he thought was right. For once she wished what was right lined up with what made both of them happy.

"I know you don't think it's real." She whispered, laying her hand flat over his heart. "So I'll wait for you." She paused swallowing thickly, "_We_ will get rid of this sirebond, and when we do I'll still be here, feeling what I feel. Until then, just hold me okay?" It was lame, but it was the best she had. She was tired and she wouldn't sleep if he wasn't there, she couldn't.

Damon realized a long time ago, that there was nothing in the world he wouldn't give this girl. In fact there were very few things he didn't _want_ to give her, and after a day like today his resistance was wearing thin. Actually every day that the sirebond existed his resistance wore thinner, and he was ready to accept that. It just meant he needed to find the cure, and soon. He needed to find it before he did something Elena would never forgive him for.

"Okay." He whispered, and he let her lace her fingers through his, deciding not to feel guilty as he led them up to his room.

.

* * *

.

**A/n: Thanks so much for the reviews I absolutely love hearing feedback. I know there was alot of scenes in this one, let me know what you think of them! Please review I write so much faster when I'm motivated. :) Thanks so much for reading! **

**-Onalee **


	5. The Deal

"As much as I'm enjoying the free hideout, Rebekah, what's in it for you?" Tyler stretched his sore limbs as he climbed out of the king sized bed, calling after the blonde who'd disappeared into the bathroom. He was exhausted, but that was nothing new.

"I'm not having an entirely bad time toying with you." She called, and he couldn't help the tiny smile that appeared on the edges of his lips. The sex was good. Honestly, it was great, some of the best he'd ever had. Especially for someone he had zero feelings for; it did well for his ego to know he wasn't the only one having a good time in this mess of a fucked up situation.

"Seriously Bex." He trailed into the steamy bathroom, lazily dropping his boxers in his pursuit of her. He'd nearly done a 180 of the way he'd treated her over the past few weeks, but after being shown his two options he begrudgingly decided this was the way to go, however the routine had grown on him.

"Does it matter?" Suddenly she was behind him, whispering in his ear. He shivered in response, snatching her around the waist before she had the chance to move.

"Maybe." He shrugged, pulling at the tie on her robe. She gave him a coy smile before shrugging the garment off her shoulders, and slinking her arms around his neck.

"You're a secret bargaining chip, I just haven't decided when to use you." She mumbled between lazy morning kisses.

"Mmm, don't you usually keep those chained up in the basement?" He smirked.

"You know as well I do you can't leave, and having a sex slave isn't the _worst_ thing in the world." Rebekah moaned into his mouth while she rubbed his hands all over her, right where she liked to be teased. Tyler pulled her into the shower and roughly explored her under the stream. He wasn't entirely convinced with her answer, but for the time being it would have to do.

Besides, like she said, it wasn't the worst situation in the world, not by a long shot. He knew eventually he'd have to deal with the outside world, and the consequences that came with what happened during his stay here, but for now, he couldn't bring himself to care.

.

* * *

.

Elena could definitely get used to waking up in Damon's arms, and the few minutes she spent before he woke up were definitely her favorite of the day. It was just before she saw the glint of guilt in his eyes that threatened to undo her. So she lay there for a while watching him, allowing herself the small luxury of the morning. Unfortunately all good things come to an end, especially where Elena was concerned.

After an unsatisfying morning of rushed departures she made her way to school and her morning buzz was quickly wearing off.

"I've been looking everywhere for you!" Bonnie leaned against the locker, watching as Elena rummaged through her bag.

"Well I just got here, slept in again." She rolled her eyes.

"What do you think about playing a little hooky?" Caroline appeared on her right, raising her eyebrows at her long lost friend. Elena let out a laugh before she realized they were serious. She looked back and forth between her two friends, convinced something had snapped in both of them. Either that, or they had a plan up their sleeve. Before she had a chance to ask, Bonnie answered.

"We found her." Bonnie grinned. Elena felt her breath catch, she knew exactly who Bonnie was talking about, and if they really knew where she was Elena was ready to go right now. Katherine was the answer to this sirebond bullshit and really the only thing that stood between her brother having a normal life or not. There was nothing she wanted more than to figure out the sirebond without the cure.

"So what do you say? The shopping isn't exactly fabulous in Pittsburg, but I wouldn't mind some girl time on the road." Caroline beamed. Elena smiled in spite of herself, she didn't know how much Caroline knew, but if she was willing to extend this olive branch Elena would do the same. She missed Caroline, honestly, and Bonnie too. She wasn't sure it mattered where they went, but some girl time didn't sound bad right now, after all it was a long drive.

"Who's car?"

* * *

Almost four hours later the three girls sped down the highway, sunroof down and music turned up. It was such a movie esque scene that Elena almost forgot the fact that she hadn't spoken to Caroline in weeks, and that they were on a mission to find the bitchiest vampire in the world. They still had yet to decide exactly how they were going to get Katherine to actually talk to them once they found her, and she couldn't really bring herself to care. She could only hope blindly that maybe her doppelganger would hear her out at least a little. She wasn't stupid, she knew it wouldn't be easy, but it'd been a while since Katherine had messed with her and as long as Klaus was around she didn't see why Katherine wouldn't take the opportunity to push her newly heightened emotional buttons. And all Elena needed was five minutes to get Katherine to take the bait and listen.

Of course she had not only given little thought to her plan with Katherine, but Damon was weighing heavily on her mind as well. She wouldn't be home until late at night, even if everything with Katherine went smoothly. She decided when they were about an hour outside of Pittsburg that she needed to give Damon the peace of mind that she was okay. Of course he wouldn't actually have peace of mind unless he could _see_ her, and if she tried to call him he would probably track her down and drag her back. She felt awful not telling him what she was up to, but he wouldn't understand, and unless she took the risk and did this she might never be able to convince him how she felt. Besides, any chance she got to stick it to the sirebond was one she most definitely took.

In the end she decided to leave Jeremy a voicemail and tell a bit of a white lie that hopefully wouldn't worry Damon to the point of coming to find her. Then she promptly shut her phone off.

"Please, he won't stop having an aneurism until he can see you haven't been thrown off another bridge." Caroline rolled her eyes, catching on quickly to her plan. Elena prickled at the comment, while Caroline might mean well, she really needed to get over her hatred of Damon, and fast. If she wanted to stay friends she needed to respect Elena's decisions. Besides it wasn't like they'd even talked in months, if she wanted to pretend to know _anything_ about her relationship with Damon, she could hit just as hard.

"Are you really going to complain about his compulsive need to keep her safe? He's had much less desirable addictions in the past." Bonnie scoffed at her friend. Elena wasn't sure whether she'd defended or insulted Damon, but she was glad Bonnie had defended _her._ Her friends didn't have to like her boyfriend, but they had to respect her choices.

"Does he wait up outside of school for you or something?" Caroline asked, unable to keep the malice from her tone. Elena shot Caroline a nasty glare before retorting,

"Isn't that just the pot calling the kettle black? Klaus isn't exactly a model citizen and yet you're the one practically living with him." She spat.

"Yeah because I've been trying to convince him not to kill my boyfriend, who_ I've_ been faithful to!" She screeched.

"Stefan's not my boyfriend Caroline! I didn't cheat on anyone." She insisted.

"You slept with Damon before Stefan's pillow was cold!"

"That's enough, both of you!" Bonnie bellowed over them. "If I were you Elena, I'd take your brother's advice and get the hell out of this town and leave both Salvatores behind because neither of them are good enough for you." Elena began to protest while Caroline looked smug, but Bonnie shot them another glare.

"And don't even get me started on you Caroline. Whether you like it or not you've started a love triangle of your own and neither of them are good enough for you either, so seriously stop ripping on Elena so much." She rolled her eyes and Caroline huffed in annoyance, apparently not willing to argue with her friend.

"I don't know if you guys remember, but we're friends. Best friends. Yeah things were a lot easier when you two were humans and I was just a girl and we were just teenagers with teenage problems, but we're not anymore and that really sucks but it doesn't mean I want to lose you guys, especially not over something as ridiculous as a pair of boys." Bonnie snapped, laying down the law.

Caroline crossed her arms over her chest but tossed Elena a look that might insinuate an apology.

.

* * *

.

Jeremy listened once again to the voicemail his sister left him, confused. He knew she was lying, he just wasn't sure why. He wondered if she thought she couldn't trust him, now that his basic instinct was to kill her. Honestly he wouldn't blame her for that, in fact he would probably credit her.

He tried to call her back again, but it went straight to voicemail. He rolled his eyes, she should have learned by now to keep her phone on her, there were emergencies in this town left and right, usually in the supernatural. He decided that there was no possible way that Caroline, Elena and Bonnie had made a Tuesday trip anywhere in search of Bonnie's Mom, and the fact that she was leaving the message with him and not Damon was fishy too. Probably because if she told Damon he'd talk her out of it, or follow her. Which left him with the job of dealing with Damon when Elena failed to come home from school, awesome.

He was silently grateful to Damon for having inherited the need to protect Elena that he had apparently outgrown. He shook his head, disgusted by the thought that he didn't even _want_ to care about her. For God's sake she was his _sister. _He loved her, he knew he did. He grew up with her, she was still the same Elena. He knew that, and somehow he still could hardly fight his instinct to rip her heart from her chest.

He needed to warn her about the new hunter, he knew he needed to, and yet he still hadn't. He hadn't told anyone about him, but he knew he was here somewhere, waiting to unveil himself.

Jeremy glanced to the clock again, Damon would probably come busting down his door any second now. He felt his fists tighten and tried to relax, but when he realized somewhere in the last ten seconds he'd picked up a stake he threw it to the ground in disgust.

"Aw come on, it's not that bad for a first try." Damon smirked from the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest.

"What are you doing here Damon?" He grit out.

"Jesus little Gilbert keep it together, can't I ever just come to say hello?" He grinned, but Jeremy saw how tense he was, he came looking for Elena.

"She's not here." He grumbled out, raiding the fridge. His instincts told him not to turn his back on Damon, but they fought them, rummaging through his food like it was nothing. "She went on some road trip with Bonnie and Caroline to find Bonnie's Mom, she thinks she can help read her grimwoire or whatever. She said she'd be back later tonight." He shrugged, not daring to look over his shoulder. He was prepared for Damon to explode, and silently cursed his sister for putting him in this annoying position.

"She didn't happen to say _where_ she was going, right?" Damon's voice was clipped and if Jeremy wished he was this concerned.

"Look, she's perfectly capable of protecting herself now, and even if she wasn't she'd got Caroline backing her up plus Bonnie can give any supernatural thing who's willing to screw with her a brain bleed, she'll be fine." He spat. Damon had him pinned to the wall by his throat before his could blink, searching his eyes intensely.

"What's with the attitude?" He snarled. Jeremy knew he wasn't really being himself right now, but Damon had always been a dick and he wasn't afraid of dishing it right back to him. Before he had time to think Jeremy maneuvered his way out of Damon's grasp, taking him off guard for a split second.

"You're getting faster." Damon gave him a once over, seeming impressed, or maybe even proud. "Klaus hasn't been here has he?" He tacked on quickly, his smile fading.

"Never invited him in." Jeremy shook his head.

"Must just be those good ole hunter jeans then." He shrugged, shoving Jeremy back towards the counter for some space. "If she calls, let me know." Jeremy watched the vampire retreat and fought with himself, he knew he should say something, he just didn't _want _to.

"There's a new hunter." He blurted, his palms sweating and heart racing as though it was a physical feat to say the words. Damon turned around to face him.

"Start talking little Gilbert."

.

* * *

.

Professor Shane knew that eventually one of the many arrogant vampires that were gallivanting around town would eventually come to interrogate him about Silas. He was hoping that it would begin and end with Damon Salvatore, however when the oldest most powerful hybrid of all time decided to pay him a visit, he knew he had to play his cards right, he had to convince Klaus that it was in his best interest to keep him alive.

Three hours of eerily calm back and forth later and Klaus still had yet to really ask him what he wanted to. He was sweating him out, and Shane knew it.

"I know you have an agenda." Klaus drawled, seemingly bored, but the tone of the conversation was growing graver by the minute. Shane held his tongue, sensing the vampire had more to say. "And I really don't care what it is, as long as at the end of the day, Elena takes the cure, and becomes human." Shane tried to keep his facial muscles frozen, not wanting to give anything away. If he wasn't forced to tell Klaus his motives for the cure, then he wouldn't. Elena would be human, he had no problem agreeing to that.

"If your agenda messes up mine, then we will have a problem." He added, looking Shane directly in the eye.

"We won't have a problem then." He said stiffly. Klaus appraised him for a few moments of terrifying silence.

"Well then, perfect. And I'll tell you what, you help me find my favorite Hybrid, and I won't mention to anyone else that you admitted you've got your own plans."

.

* * *

.

"I want to do this by myself, she'll never trust me if I come with the two of you." Elena argued again, but both Bonnie and Caroline still seemed skeptical.

"Elena, it's Katherine, she'll probably snap your neck before you have a foot in the door—

"Not if I'm alone!" Elena argued. Caroline and Bonnie exchanged a look.

"Listen, you two can wait a few blocks away, if anything gets out of hand Caroline will hear it and in two seconds flat you can come to the rescue. Besides, I know Katherine, she'll want to hear me out as long as she thinks I have something she wants. This time I do, I have the information about the cure." Elena tried. She was tired of convincing everyone she was capable of things, especially her friends. She was a vampire now and if that didn't give her at least a little bit of freedom, nothing would.

"Don't do anything to aggravate her." Caroline grasped Elena's shoulders to emphasize herself. "Please." She added. Elena softened at her plea, smiling at her friend, who had her best intentions at heart.

"I won't, I promise and I'll call you if anything seems strange, I swear." She promised.

"Be careful Elena." Bonnie added, hugging her for good measure. A surge of pride swept through Elena as she speed through the streets to the house that Bonnie said Katherine was in. She was finally _doing_ something. Her adrenaline was pumping through her, excited at the prospect of being the hero. If she could just once solve a problem instead of waiting around for her friends and family to die for it she would be elated. The cure was overrated if feeling like this was the result of vampirism. Without pause she rapped twice on the door. She heard Katherine take pause and decided that this was her moment, and she was going to have to make it count. In a spur of the moment decision she decided to take the direct route.

"I'm alone, Damon and Stefan don't even know where I am or what I'm doing. I have a deal to cut with you."

.

* * *

.

Elena had been right about one thing, Katherine was curious and in the end, that was what won her over. She suavely invited her into the expensive foreclosure and before she'd even sat down Katherine was trying to get under her skin with witty remarks about how Rebekah had managed to murder her. Elena was patient, having expected as much from her elder doppelganger and when she grew bored of taunting Elena, she struck.

First she told Katherine everything she knew about the sirebond, and when she snapped at her, asking what it had to do with her, she merely mentioned that she would trade her information for the cure. She wasn't surprised when Katherine's eyes narrowed. As Elena had suspected Katherine knew about the cure too, but it didn't seem like she knew how interested everyone back in Mystic Falls was in finding it and giving it to her.

Katherine began to demand more information, but Elena played her cards wisely, insisting that she'd given enough to receive a bit of cooperation. Katherine raised an eyebrow, deciding that Damon had indeed rubbed off on her, but said nothing to exacerbate it.

"There is no spell Elena." Kathine drawled. "The bond is a magical bond so Emily journaled about it." She shrugged. "She warned me about it too, but I thought it would be fun to essentially have a couple of stunningly attractive young vampires tied to doing my will, it didn't happen with Stefan because I compelled him, he never loved me." She said and Elena swore she sensed bitterness in her tone, but she covered it quickly.

"Of course _Damon _was sired to me." She rolled her eyes. "I didn't know it at first, but I had my suspicions." Katherine drawled, a small smirk gracing her lips as she ran a finger around the rim of her glass of blood. "but I wasn't about to come back to Mystic Falls for it." She shrugged. "I'd heard dozens of rumors but it wasn't until I saw him that I really understood what the sirebond meant, and I was willing to use it to my advantage, but I wasn't quite ready to let them know I wasn't really dead. It would've kind of defeated the purpose off all of that." She scoffed.

Elena tried to keep her anger in check, gritting her teeth together in an attempt not to become protective of the men she spoke so casually of. It was essential that she kept her cool, but as a baby vampire that was asking a lot.

"Too bad he went and ruined it by turning it off." She gave a small smile and Katherine waited for that to sink in, but Elena's face went unchanged, she was keeping up her front today. If Katherine wasn't so bored she might be impressed.

"What do you mean that ruined it?" She asked calmly. Katherine frowned, her boredom slowly fading into irritation. Meanwhile Elena's heart raced unnecessarily, her desire for more information growing with each passing moment. She came expecting to learn about a spell that probably require something impossible, but turning it off? She could do that. But there had to be a catch.

"The sirebond is born of human feelings, when you turn off your feelings the sirebond has no effect." She stated plainly, aware that she was giving away her best cards. Elena's heart was hammering rapidly away in her chest, but she refused to let it show that she was in a state of distress. If all she had to do was turn it off, she would do it in a heartbeat, but the way Katherine spoke insinuated there was a darker side to the story she wasn't willing to give away yet.

"Then why was he still so obsessed with finding you while his emotions were off?" Elena fought to keep her voice even as she asked her question. Katherine took a long swig of her drink.

"His feelings were real." She said clearly. "When he turned them back on, he still loved me, but when I came back to Mystic Falls the sirebond was already broken not to mention the fact that his humanity switch was shot to hell, so he wouldn't take my commands." She seemed annoyed as she thought back and Elena took advantage of the moment to understand what it meant for her. If she turned it off and then back on she could knew exactly how she felt, and so would Damon, the problem would be explaining to him that this would work. He would be against anything that was Katherine's idea.

"I do have to say I'm amused that it was _his_ blood that turned you." She mused after a moment. Elena refused to take the bait, but shot Katherine a glare, which was apparently all she needed to fuel the fire.

"I mean a sirebond is born of human emotion, but I wonder to what extent it's fabricated by your longing for his happiness. I'm half hoping you turn it off just so I get to see how this whole thing turns out." She shrugged, taking another swig of her drink. "Poor Damon, maybe he'll turn it off again from the pain and be a little more fun." She grinned. Elena's blood boiled at Katherine's words and a strange protectiveness she felt over Damon had her feeling uneasy. She knew what she felt for Damon was real, but if it was exaggerated by the bond, she didn't know how she would feel. She shook the thoughts from her mind, trying to decide what information Katherine was holding back.

"You're giving away all your secrets upfront Katherine, it's unlike you to be so careless." Elena sneered, but Katherine let out a ruthless laugh.

"Trust me Elena, I'm not worried. We all want the same things, and when you find that cure, I'll be the one to bargain it from my hands to Klaus's." She said, "And you'll give it to me because you need my help."

"What makes you think I need anything from you?" The younger doppelganger argued. Some acid leaked into her voice at the prospect of yet another older vampire assuming she would need someone to rescue her but Katherine ignored it.

"First of all, you won't be able to turn it off if you tell Damon that you plan to, and while I have to say you've gotten better at this whole manipulative thing you've got going on here, you won't be able to lie to Damon, especially not if he asks you directly what you're up to and I doubt any of your teenie bopper friends would be willing to help you hide from Damon that you plan to flip the switch." She stated plainly. "And I doubt he'll be very happy with you when you get back from this little field trip, he'll be especially suspicious of your plans, and without me, you won't be able to keep that secret." She argued. Before Elena had a chance to process anything, she continued. "Second I need Damon to focus on finding the cure and so do you, that is unless you want Klaus to start asking why you've suddenly lost all motivation to take it, and Damon won't be able to focus on anything while he's following you all around town making sure you don't do anything you'll regret."

Elena drew her brow together in confusion "I'll just turn it right back on." She stated, as though it was the most simple thing in the world. Granted she didn't know everything about being a vampire, but the switch thing seemed pretty basic, on and off. She would never want to live with it off, it went against everything she stood for. Katherine simply smiled in respond and leaned in until she was as close to Elena as she sofa would allow.

"You won't want to." She whispered cruelly. "You're going to flip the switch and all the guilt and grief and pain and annoyance you've ever felt will just be gone. Without your feelings for the Salvatore's to anchor you, you're going to take off on a bender and Damon will chase after you." Katherine's voice darkened as she spoke first hand. "You'll need my help. Your friends are too fragile and they care about you too much to do what has to be done. I know how to get your humanity back, but I refuse to help until my fingers are wrapped around the cure. In the meantime, I'll make sure you don't do anything too stupid, or anything you'll regret." She rolled her eyes. "But make no mistake, you need me. If you pull this on Damon without my help you'll destroy him. Whether you say something to him so you can have your way or you kill him yourself, without your emotions you'll be lethal to him and you will not care." She stated clearly, and Elena couldn't find fault in her logic. She wanted to believe that she would never willingly hurt anyone she cared about, but without a switch she wasn't sure. She saw what Stefan became without his switch, not to mention everything Damon had done. She didn't know if she believed that she would want to keep the switch off, in fact she was inclined to believe otherwise, but something in her gut told her Katherine was being honest.

Elena's heart was racing with all the new information as her mind struggled to keep up. She knew Katherine was manipulative and a lot of this was probably tailored to help her get what she wanted but it all made a lot of sense, and it wasn't like Katherine had a lot of time to think all this out before she started talking to her. As she came to the realization that her look a like was waiting for an answer and she was under a time limit she realized that this was pretty much out of her hands already. Katherine knew now that Mystic Falls was in a race for the cure, and if Katherine wanted it, she would probably end up with it, if Elena got anything out of it in the meantime, she didn't see how it could hurt.

Even if Katherine somehow screwed them, she wanted all the same things they did, her freedom from Klaus, which resulted in finding the cure and giving it to her. It seemed like common sense to take her up on what she was offering. It was clear that she was only trying to make her new goal of finding the cure easier by inserting herself into the lives of the Salvatore's under pretenses of helping her doppelganger. Elena didn't think she needed the help, but she couldn't see how having Katherine as a backup would hurt. Aside from the obvious taunting, teasing and blood boiling remarks she had nothing which she could betray them with.

She should probably talk to Bonnie and Caroline first, and Damon and everyone else in Mystic Falls. She would definitely endure everyone's wrath for this, but it was her decision. She was tired of being weak and if this was the fastest way to break the sirebond, she was more than okay with that. So she went with her gut and extended her hand.

"We have a deal."

.

* * *

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**A/n: Hey guys sorry it took soooooo long. School has been crazy, hopefully I'll get in another update between studying for midterms! Thanks for all your reviews, they make my day! Sorry there isn't any Delena in this chapter, but next chapter will have some I promise. I know this storyline seems similar to the show, but it wont be, I had these plans long before Elena shut it off. Let me know what you think! and PLEASEEEEE review, it seriously makes my day and helps motivate me to write faster! Happy Easter Everyone! **

**-Onalee**


	6. Agree to Disagree

"Just tell me what's going on Care." Stefan whispered into the phone across the room, fully aware that his brother could hear their entire conversation. Damon was at the bar, pouring himself another drink, which was the least surprising thing Stefan had seen all day. He knew Damon was on the edge of losing it, his stance alone said that he was an inch away from snapping the next neck of a person who looked at him funny.

"We're all _fine_ Stefan, and we're almost back to the boarding house, I'll see you in a minute, tell Damon to stop pacing!" She snapped. Stefan ended the call abruptly, not daring a glance at Damon, who chuckled dryly across the room. This whole situation was ridiculous and yet another reason why they needed to find that cure, fast. Elena wouldn't have ever pulled something like this as a human, it wasn't _her_. When she was under Damon's pull like this she was someone he didn't recognize and he didn't know how to help.

So he crossed his arms, and stood across the room from his big brother, waiting for the girl they loved to make it through the door. They were right to worry, vampire or not Elena was a magnet for destruction and she should have told at least one of them where she was going. Stefan had resolved that right now it was his job to get the cure, but it was Damon's to keep her alive until he got it.

Damon tried to focus on the part of himself that was angry, but it wasn't working. While a fair amount of him was pissed at Blondie and Sabrina for taking Elena on this road-trip without telling anyone what they were doing or where they were going, he was more pissed at Elena for not telling him and for lying to Jeremy about it. There was no way in hell the three of them had gone to see Bonnie's mom, he knew that because he called up the ex-witch himself. Ever since hearing she knew nothing of what Elena and Bonnie were doing he'd gotten more and more angry. Everything about this little mission screamed shady. He didn't ask a whole lot of Elena, in fact all he really asked was that she stay safe and be honest with him, two rules he was positive she'd broken today and there was nothing he could do about it.

He'd been arguing with Elena over her safety the entire time he'd known her, he thought maybe they'd gotten past the stage where she went behind his back to put her neck on the line, but apparently not. She'd even gone above and beyond to not speak to him today so he wouldn't use the sirebond against her plans, so much for trust.

Of course there was the tiny possibility that she was doing something innocent, just a bonding day trip with the girls, however if it was innocent she wouldn't have lied and she would have told him. So yeah, he was pissed. It was nearly 11 at night, and he was more than pissed that Elena had once again gone suicidal on him without even giving him a heads up.

But the part of him that was pissed at her, paled in comparison to his overwhelming anxiety. He needed to feel her, alive and well in his arms. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her in the morgue, pale and dead. Or he saw her hanging there in Rebekah's basement, bloodied and beaten. He swallowed hard. Caroline had just assured Stefan that the three of them were more than fine, but he wouldn't be able to drown the overwhelming sense of fear until he could see her, unharmed, for himself.

After Jeremy began to tell him all about the fact that there was a new hunter in town Damon's anxiety spiked. He was uneasy knowing that somewhere in the town there was a lethal vampire hunter that knew about all of them, waiting to strike. Any logical person would be glad that Elena had picked that moment to skip town without warning and part of him was, another part was paranoid that somehow she'd been kidnapped and forced to leave Jeremy a bogus message.

He shook off that train of thought after an incredibly short and frustrating phone call with Bonnie, who insisted that everything was fine and they would explain later. He had half a mind to go out and buy a fucking tracker for Elena's phone while he waited impatiently for them to return, but decided against it. Instead he spent the day with Liz trying to get information about anyone new to the town, but whoever the hunter was he was laying low, at least for now. As ridiculous as it sounded he wanted Elena home so he could protect her. As long as this hunter was around if she wasn't in his sight as far as he was concerned she was too far away. It was ridiculous, but again, he couldn't give less of a fuck. He'd lost her too many times to trust anyone else with the job of protecting her.

Of course he had to be inconspicuous about it, because if he let on for one second that she couldn't take care of herself she would go and do something impulsive to prove him wrong and with her luck the hunter would chose exactly that moment to strike. He knew Elena could hold her own, hell she could do it before she was a vampire, but being that Elena's blood could easily be used as a bargaining chip for anyone in this town who decided to hate Klaus, among many other reasons, he needed to be on the safe side and keep her glued to him, at least until he knew who the hunter was. He doubted she'd have a problem with that and if she did, he'd have to tell her to suck it up.

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* * *

.

Elena took a deep breath as they passed the Mystic Falls sign, knowing there were only moments to go before she had to face the Salvatore bothers, who by the sound of it, were even angrier than she thought they'd be. She wasn't stupid, she knew this morning when she got into the car and drove six hours to find _Katherine_ she was making a decision that would piss both of them off. But when she turned off her phone, lied to Jeremy and brought Katherine back with her? She was just asking for them to finally lose her patience with her and boot her from their lives for good.

"Quit worrying, if Katherine so much as blinks wrong Bonnie will have her on the floor in two seconds flat." Caroline rolled her eyes, glancing to Elena with an aloof expression. Elena still didn't know if it was the best choice in the world, having Bonnie ride back with Katherine, but she didn't trust her to ride back alone and putting her in a car with Caroline for 7 hours seemed pointless. One of them would provoke the other to death and since Caroline was about 300 years younger she didn't think it would end well for her friend. Besides at this point Elena was absolutely convinced that Katherine wouldn't try anything, at least not until Elena had broken the sirebond and she lost her leverage. Elena was still thinking about the sirebond too. Turning it off would infuriate Damon, so she wouldn't be able to tell him, not until it was already done, which was another reason why she needed Katherine.

When she got back to Bonnie and Caroline to tell them Katherine would be coming back neither of them were very keen on it, especially without knowing how to break the sirebond. Caroline had pretty much thrown a fit over the whole thing, but when she abruptly realized there was nothing she could do about it until they got back to Mystic Falls she clamped her lips together and drove them with an eerie sense of calm that told Elena she would be blowing up soon.

She felt awful about not telling Bonnie or Caroline what was going on, especially after they went to such lengths today to help her find Katherine. She couldn't tell her friends though, the only person who could know was Katherine, if it got to anyone else it would never work, the whole plan would be shot to hell and she'd have to wait for the cure, which at this point was her backup plan, only because so many things were bound to go wrong. With both Rebekah, Klaus and now Katherine in the running for the cure someone was bound to screw her over somewhere down the line, and as long as it was after she turned it off and then back on, breaking the sirebond, they would be able to deal with it.

But she was worried and skeptical. She needed to pick the right moment to turn it off, and she needed to figure out how Damon would react so she could at least try to prepare him a little. She was worried that Katherine might be right, though she couldn't imagine a world where she would want her humanity off, Katherine did have a point. She would be a different person with her humanity off and Elena didn't want Damon to have to be so concerned with helping her get it back on. Inevitably he would be, but if Katherine followed through he wouldn't be worried for long, and the payoff would be worth it.

So with that resolve she prepared herself as they pulled into the boarding house driveway. Elena had to be quick, because Katherine had only agreed to give her a ten minute head start, and knowing Katherine it would probably be sooner than that. An overwhelming amount of guilt settled itself deep in her chest, not only for the amount she had to lie to Damon today, but because she would have to again and she would have to worry him. She knew that part of the guilt came from the sirebond, she could feel that, however part of it was her, she didn't want to hurt him anymore, but this was necessary for them to be happy.

She squared her shoulders and told herself to be strong as she got out of the car and strode toward the door after Caroline. Caroline threw it open,

"See, told you she's fine, not even a scratch." Caroline crossed her arms over her chest after gesturing to Elena, but the comment was lost on her. She didn't realize it until she was in the same room with him but it felt like physical relief to see him.

His eyes locked on hers like there was no one else in the world, let alone the room, but he made no move toward her. His body was rigid with tenseness she couldn't quite place, but the tiny breath he let out clued her in that maybe he'd just been worried, well and pissed. She knew him well enough to know that no matter what she did or said, tonight he would be pissed. She only hoped that he would be pissed with her and not pissed off somewhere else.

She opened her mouth to say something, but she suddenly had nothing to say. She couldn't really explain herself, because anything less than the truth was less than he deserved, especially right now. Suddenly she just wanted to hold him and smooth the worry from his expression and massage the tension out of his shoulders and back, but his icy stare said that wouldn't go over well either, not until he had answers, answers she couldn't give him.

"I'm so sorry." She said, directing her attention entirely only Damon. She wasn't apologizing for anything specific, at least not yet, but it was a start. He'd finally decided to cut a deal with her and stop shutting her out and here she was doing it to him. He made no move, but quirked an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to continue.

"I know you're mad, and if I was you I'd be mad too. I skipped town, turned off my phone and didn't tell you where I was going." She admitted, taking a step toward him.

"I know what you did I don't need a list of the transgressions Elena." He snarled at her. It wasn't until that moment she realized Stefan and Caroline had apparently left the room.

"I did it because I found a way to break the sirebond, but if I tell you about it, it won't work." She said. It sounded lame, more than that it sounded like a ridiculously naive lie. She tried to speak again, but she was grasping for words that weren't there, she needed to explain herself and she'd practiced how she'd do it the entire ride home but now it didn't seem like anything. It just translated back down into 'I can't tell you'.

"Well that sounds like a huge load of bullshit to me." He snapped at her, but she didn't miss the flash of hope that crossed his features when she'd mentioned the bond.

"I know it sounds ridiculous, but I found a way to do this without the cure." She promised, taking another step toward him. "Bonnie and I were looking through old grimore's and we found a missing page that could have explained the sirebond. Today we followed the lead and I found someone who'd broken a sirebond before. She explained everything and I didn't just take her word for it Damon." She said. "I bargained and manipulated and frankly if you weren't so mad right now you would have been proud." She said, tentatively placing her hands on his upper arms, attempting to soothe him. He didn't pull away but he was still appraising her, he didn't know what to make of what she was saying but he wasn't yelling yet, which was a good sign.

"She broke hers and she told me exactly how to do it, but if you know about it, there's a really good chance it won't work." She emphasized.

"Sounds like you'll probably be in mortal peril for it then." He snapped, but his eyes had softened, he was more worried than mad now, and she could work with that.

"I swear I won't be in danger. There's no sacrifice or spell or elixir. I don't even have to do anything dangerous, I promise Damon." She assured him, "But you can't ask me what it is, if you do it will never work, and I need this to work, _we _need this to work." She whispered. He held her stare for a moment longer and she watched his resolve crumble.

"We're not done talking about whatever the hell you're not talking about." He promised gravely. She nodded quickly, realizing that this was going a lot better than she'd hoped for. She searched his face, but all she found was exhaustion.

"You're okay?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I was never in any danger today I promise." She replied as he snuck his arms around her waist and pulled his tightly to him. While he sounded casual, this embrace gave him away. He held her so tightly that it almost was uncomfortable, but she needed this too. She needed the reassurance that he was here with her.

"I somehow doubt that." He scoffed, burying his nose in her hair. She relished in the comfortable moment, before he asked another question or Katherine came strolling in. She knew she was treading dangerously close to fighting with him and it was the last thing she needed right now.

"Great, so now we have another hunter to worry about." Caroline's voice invaded the moment and Elena swore she'd never been more annoyed with her friend. Damon reluctantly drew back from Elena and she snapped her gaze in his direction, panic in her eyes as she did a once over of him, as though she were checking to signs that he'd learned about the hunter first hand.

"Everything's fine." He assured Elena, but everything wasn't really fine at all. He had no idea how things were even going to begin to be fine, but he couldn't stand that look in her eyes.

"Really? Because I feel like it's not, would you like me to list our problems for you?" Caroline screeched, a hand on her hip. Elena grimaced, realizing that Caroline was incredibly close to a mental breakdown and she hoped like hell this would end in screaming, not crying. Stefan had followed her into the room, but stayed silent. Elena still had a hand lingering on Damon's forearm that gave him more comfort than he was willing to admit, even though her story was crap and Caroline was the most annoying vampire ever.

"First of all, where the hell is Tyler!" She nearly screamed. Damon rolled his eyes, wolf boy's whereabouts were the least of his problems right now, and he wasn't about to sit back and listen to Barbie bitch and moan about him all night. "Second there are officially WAY too many vampires that are older and stronger than all of us combined in the search for this cure, not to mention the fact that Professor Shane is super creepy and definitely is not telling us everything. My bet is that he turns out to be a psycho!" She took a deep breath before anyone could stop her.

"Also, this whole thing where Elena is SIRED to Damon is kind of the most annoying thing ever!" This time Elena was the one to roll her eyes and cross her arms. "Now she's got some plan to fix everything but apparently none of us can know what it is or the whole thing will collapse on us, well that's not really good enough for me! Now I'm supposed to trust that psychotic bitch not to double cross us in some plan that I don't even know about?" She huffed. Elena tried to calm her down.

"Caroline you need to trust me, I know what I'm doing—

"Do you really? Because I think that she's capable of manipulating any of us and if she's playing you none of us are going to know about it until it's too late." She snapped, Elena opened her mouth to argue but before she could another voice filled the room, and Damon's blood ran cold.

"Don't get your panties in a twist." Katherine strutted into the room and over to the bar, making herself a drink. Damon had instinctively put himself between Katherine and Elena, narrowing his eyes at her in confusion.

"Don't worry Damon." Katherine chuckled, noticing his change of stance. "I'm here to help, after all do you know anyone else who's managed to break the sirebond?" There was a split second where Damon was more confused than angry, then it all clicked into place.

"What are you doing here Katherine?" Stefan snapped at her, but she only smiled at him.

"I thought you'd be more appreciative Stefan, after all you want Elena unsired more than anyone, right?" She asked coyly. Stefan was shell shocked at that and she smirked, but Damon spoke up. Whatever Elena thought she knew, it was wrong. This plan reeked of Katherine screwing them over and he needed to end this alliance before it was too late.

"Get out." He snarled at Katherine, "I don't care what kind of deal you have consider it off and get out." He repeated. He was seeing red now, because if there was one person in the world he didn't trust, it was Katherine. She was selfish, manipulative and the biggest bitch he'd ever known, Elena could argue all day long that she wouldn't screw them over but she was wrong. Just the fact that Elena had been in a room with Katherine today made his blood boil. She promised him she wasn't in danger, clearly she didn't know what that was anymore.

"Damon listen—

"Don't worry Elena, loverboy here will calm down, once he realizes just how valuable I am." Katherine grinned, making her way over to the couple, she moved to touch his shoulder but he gripped her wrist out of the air and twisted it cruelly.

"I mean it Katherine." He threatened. She scoffed and pulled back her wrist, rubbing it theatrically.

"Don't be like that." She pouted. "Besides, I'm not going anywhere, Elena and I made a deal, and I intend to uphold my end." She grinned.

"Get out Katherine." Stefan repeated, but she didn't spare a glance at him. She focused in on Damon.

"I'll give you two some privacy to talk it out, but I won't be far." She promised. "And Elena, remember what we talked about." She threw a wink in her doppelgangers direction before she disappeared.

.

* * *

.

Caroline was exhausted, what was supposed to be a fun day of roadtripping with her best friends to blow off some steam had turned into a huge nightmare and it wasn't over yet. As if this whole mess couldn't get more complicated, a secret plan with Katherine was definitely not a smart idea. What little trust she had in Elena at the moment was dissipating quickly, but that didn't mean she didn't have sympathy for her friend.

After Katherine had so gracefully exited the boarding house the arguments and accusations started flying and it seemed like no one knew what to think of one another. Stefan had continuously insisted that making a deal with Katherine was an awful idea and that Elena should have come to them. Elena kept arguing that she was a vampire now and she didn't need as much protection, that she was capable of making her own decisions to help save the people she loved and as long as she wasn't in any danger it was none of his business. Caroline had half a mind to tell Elena she lost the right to make decisions when Damon became her siremaster, however he too seemed to be struggling with which side to take in the argument.

He was pissed, clearly. He was an overprotective, impulsive psycho but he cared about Elena's safety, which was something she guessed. He agreed that Katherine was bad news, but seemed to be conflicted when Elena told him he was sired to her at one point. He argued at first but Elena made a pretty convincing case and while Stefan was still pretty convinced she was manipulating them Damon was stuck in his mind somewhere, probably trying to figure out when and how his sirebond had broken so he could piece together the deal Elena had made himself.

After all the arguing had died down a little Elena had dropped the bomb that she was using the cure as a bargaining chip and all hell broke loose again. Damon was infuriated, he lost all train of thought and started telling all of them to pipe down so he could "think his way out of this". While Caroline tried to get Stefan to calm down and help him see that Katherine would only use the cure to bargain it with Klaus who only wanted it for Elena in the first place, Elena tried to help Damon see the same, which lead to the awkward confession that she didn't want the cure at all.

Caroline wasn't surprised. While Elena was under Damon's influence she wouldn't want it, but Caroline was hoping that this whole thing with Katherine might work so she'd be more cooperative when they finally found the cure, not that they wouldn't shove it down her throat if it came down to it. But Caroline hardly had time to think about it because Stefan apparently hadn't known this and the devastation was written all over his face.

"It's not her Stefan. Once this thing with Katherine works out, which it might, she'll change her mind. She'll understand then, you just have to stay strong." She promised him after following him from the house. He'd ended up in the woods and after chasing him around for a while he eventually sat down underneath a tree to brood. She was tired and all she wanted was to sleep, but since no one else seemed to be concerned with the fact that Stefan might tear into a throat if nobody was there to support him that responsibility fell on her too. Besides, she was Stefan's friend and she wanted to help.

"But right now it _is_ her." He sighed, putting his face in his hands. "And I don't know how much more of this her I can take." He admitted quietly. "This girl wants my brother and I can't sit around and try and save her from that." He said.

"You don't have to." Caroline replied, placing a hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. "Damon will keep her alive and well until we can get her this cure. You just have to focus on the goal here. Elena will be back, but we've got to be patient with her." She assured him. In all honesty she didn't even know what she was saying anymore. She didn't know if she really believed that Elena was acting this way 100% because of the sirebond. Of course that was what pushed her to such extremes, but Caroline wasn't convinced that her feelings for Damon were fabricated, at least not completely and she wasn't sure how she was going to keep Stefan from jumping off the ledge if Elena got the cure and then chose his brother anyway.

She glanced back to her couch where Stefan had fallen asleep moments ago after she convinced him to come home with her and get some rest. She ran a hand through her hair, resolving not to cry. She was being pushed to her limit. On top of worrying about Tyler, babysitting Klaus, making sure Stefan was alright, helping Elena and looking over her shoulder for the new hunter she didn't think she could live like this much longer. Not to mention the fact that Jeremy was apparently trying to kill all of them, and so was the council. Plus Bonnie and professor creepy were obviously up to no good. And now Katherine was back in town, which would make life just that much more exhausting. She stepped outside and paused. She needed to get away tonight, but in an agonizingly slow approaching epiphany, she realized she had absolutely nowhere to go.

.

* * *

.

"It's simple Elena, I don't trust her." Damon argued again, scrubbing a hand over his face. Since Caroline and Stefan made their dramatic exit earlier he and Elena had done nothing but go back and forth. First they argued about how she lied, then about how she left town, then about what danger meant. She apologized and reasoned stubbornly but promised that in the future she would clue him in as much as she could, as if it was such a fucking inconvenience. But the thing they'd been arguing about most was Katherine. They argued and she cried and then they argued some more because at the end of the day Damon would never, ever trust Katherine, and somehow Elena did.

"I don't either but you don't understand, she doesn't get what she wants unless she fulfills her end of the deal, it's impossible, she would have nothing to gain and everything to lose if she screwed us." She assured him, but he shook his head.

"She knows we know about the cure, she knows we're trying to find it so as long as she's here she can just pluck it from our hands at the finish line, without holding up her end of this secret fucking bargain." He yelled.

"No, if she doesn't fulfill her end of the deal we tell Klaus where she is and that we know how to find her when she runs." Elena explained, moving to sit next to him on the bed as he took off his boots and threw them across the room. He was already shaking his head at her, but she didn't give him a chance to speak. "Do you trust me?" She asked, her voice soft and somehow determined. It was the voice he'd come to love and detest. This argument had officially taken a turn for the worst. He might as well just resign now, because whenever she used that fucking voice he ended up giving in.

"It's not that I don't trust _you—_

"That's not what I asked, Damon." She snapped. "Either you trust my judgment or you don't." She said quickly. Damon shook his head, another kind of frustration entirely taking over.

"Elena." He started, and she inched closer to him, her face co close to his that it would hardly take any movement at all to kiss her. He pulled back and for a moment she looked offended, but did her best to conceal it. His heart panged uncomfortably again.

"All of the plans you've come up with up until this point have somehow involved your death or near death experience, so don't take this the wrong way, but no." He started. She looked down, but he used two fingers and reluctantly tilted her chin up so she could see the intensity in his eyes. "I am so sick of feeling like I'm going to lose you." He let the sentence hang there for a moment and it was clear to both of them that there was more than one meaning attached to his words. She opened her mouth to speak, and closed it again, shaking her head. Words weren't enough.

"This time it's different." She reached up and cupped his face in her hands. He became tense, but didn't pull away. She was flirting dangerously close with their line in the sand, but she didn't care. If she had to cross it to convince him, then so be it. "I'm not willing to die yet." She whispered. "Not until I've had the chance to show you how I really feel." It wasn't poetry, and there were a lot of reasons that she didn't want to die right now, but it was what she thought he needed to hear more than anything. Even if he chocked it all up to the sirebond that should be proof enough that she wasn't headed down some suicidal road. She wanted to live, she wanted a chance with him, to show him that this was their time. "You won't lose me." She added. His eyes flashed with something close to softness.

"We're not done talking about Katherine." He promised and Elena nodded. She'd seen that coming. As long as Katherine was around, Damon was going to be tense, which meant the quicker she turned it off and back on again, the better. However, she didn't' want to think about it anymore tonight, instead she climbed under the sheet with the man she loved and relished in the feeling of his skin against hers, trying not to think about the fact that these nights were numbered.

Damon lay awake for hours with Elena molded against him, but she didn't provide as much comfort as he hoped. Having her here was the only way he ever got sleep, but tonight even she couldn't lull him into relaxation. He absolutely hated the thought of Katherine lingering around, but Elena was right about a few things and if Katherine really was on their side, to be honest they could use the extra backup. The problem was that Katherine was usually more trouble than she was worth and she was never straight forward about anything. He hadn't decided yet if he was going to squeeze this secret plan out of Elena, but first thing was first, he needed to take out the next immediate threat, the hunter.

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* * *

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**A/N **

**Hey guys, wanted to give you a fast update with some Delena since I made you wait so long, and my next chapter is already in the works! Please let me know what you think of this chapter it kind of took on a life of it's own. Next up we'll see more of what Jeremy is up to, and the new hunter makes an appearance! **

**I struggled a lot with Damon in this chapter, hopefully it turned out alright! Please Review and let me know what you think, I love getting your feedback and it always makes me write faster! Thanks,**

**-Onalee **


	7. Conflicted

"Your mark, it's bigger than I thought it would be." Jeremy startled into a seated position, groping for the stake he knew he'd left next to him when he dozed off. "Relax tiger." Jeremy looked to the intruder, who was standing across the living room arms crossed over his chest. He looked young, maybe in his twenties, not much older than Jeremy himself. His brown hair was shaggy and unkempt, as well as his facial hair.

"Who the hell are you?" Jeremy demanded, getting to his feet immediately. This guy didn't look like a vampire, but he couldn't tell. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and the mark on his arm had Jeremy immediately relaxed.  
"My name's Chris." He said, extending his hand. Jeremy shook it reluctantly, noting his strength. "And you must be Jeremy."

"How do you know my name?" He snapped.

"Easy there, you need to relax a little." He grinned. "I'm a hunter, see?" He showed off his arm again, "I'm here to help clean up your town, one vampire at a time." He flashed a charismatic smile at him and Jeremy almost felt less tension. Chris was a world away from Connor. Minus the mark he looked approachable, even friendly, which could pose a real problem for the vampires in town if they didn't find out who he was.

"Not interested." Jeremy said smoothly, getting up to open his fridge.

"Why not? This town is infested, I'm sure you could use a little backup. Besides what will happen when the only vampires left are the ones helping you kill? You'll need a hand to get rid of them." He noted. Jeremy snapped his head in the other hunter's direction. He had his attention now. He'd obviously been watching the town for a while, Jeremy specifically, which meant he knew about Elena.

"How much do you know?" He cut to the chase, pinning the hunter against the wall. Chris maneuvered out of Jeremy's grasp and had him in a headlock a second later.

"I'm not much older than you, but I'm stronger. I've been a hunter for longer, and I'm here because these monsters aren't your friends, and you need help seeing that." Chris chided him, instilling Jeremy with just enough anger to elbow him in the gut and get out of his reach.

"You don't know what you're talking about." He argued. That was his _sister_ he was referring to. No matter what she would always be his sister and he loved her, vampire or not.

"I actually do Jeremy." Chris said, raiding his cupboard and opening a box of cereal. Jeremy watched as the other hunter poured himself a bowl of the fruity pebbles, almost in awe of his audacity.

"Seriously?" He asked. Chris paid him no attention though.

"Seriously." He said, he mouth full of cereal as he sat down at the table. "I know that as much as you want to believe Elena is your sister, your instincts are telling you to kill her." He pointed his spoon at him knowingly. Jeremy opened his mouth to argue, but he didn't have anything to say. Suddenly he was blindingly curious about what the hunter knew about his mind and if he'd gone through the same thing. This guy seemed sane enough, hell other than the huge tattoo crawling up his arm he looked like a normal kid, just like him. He took another huge bite of the cereal.

"I went through the same shit, and it turns out my instincts were right." He shrugged. "You're gonna feel like shit for a while I mean that's just grief. Isn't denial or bargaining or some shit one of the stages anyway?" He asked, Jeremy stared at him blankly, stunned.

"Ahh whatever," He said, slapping Jeremy on the arm like they'd been friends since gradeschool, "grief doesn't last forever, and as soon as we get rid of this walking talking physical representation of your sister, the sooner you can accept and move on from her death." He said, like it was the most casual thing in the world. Jeremy felt his eyes sting with unshed tears and found himself disgusted with all this. He didn't know what he was feeling, or why Chris's words were hitting him so hard. His sister _had_ died, maybe in some weird way he was grieving. But his sister was also still there.

"She died so you could fulfill your destiny. She would want this. Just like ole Ric wanted it." Jeremy stiffened at the table, the mention of Ric catching his attention.

"My sister is still there." He grit out, swallowing back the tears that again were threatening to surface.

"I know you think that Jer," Chris nodded. "Which is why I'm here. We're gonna get all those fucked up thoughts straightened out, and we're going to start with Elena."

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* * *

.

"Wakey, wakey Stef." Stefan blinked open his eyes slowly to the most gorgeous girl he'd ever known and reached out to stroke her cheek. She was standing over him, looking at him like he was the only person in the world that mattered and it was so relaxing that it almost sent him back to sleep. He relished in the place between sleep and awake where his dreams lingered for a grand total of two seconds when he recoiled and shot up straight from his position on the couch.

"Katherine." He managed to whisper, his breath heaving through his body.

"Not who you were expecting? Did you forget about me already?" She grinned, walking towards him, swaying her hips in rhythm with her words.

"Planning on impersonating Elena today?" He spat, gesturing to her straight hair.

"Can't have _everyone_ knowing I'm in town." She rolled her eyes. "Though that ship sailed when we let Caroline in on the secret." She shrugged, so close to him now they were in touching distance.

"What do you want?" He snarled at her. It was far too early in the morning to have to play Katherine's games right now, especially since he was coming back from the night from hell. "Where's Caroline?" He demanded a moment later, realizing whose sofa he'd crashed on the night before.

"Don't know, she never came home last night, why? Have you moved on already?" She smirked. "If I wasn't just a little jealous I'd be proud." She pouted, moving to touch his cheek, but he swatted her hand away.

"I'm warning you Katherine, go after her and—

"And you'll what? Kill me?" She held his stare and he swore he caught emotion in her eyes. "I'm getting tired of hearing that line Stefan, contrary to popular belief, I'm not here to make anyone suffer, that's just a perk that comes with the job." She shrugged.

"And what job is that?" He snapped. "I don't buy for one second you're actually here to help Elena or my brother."  
"I'm hurt." She pouted, but her eyes were slits of anger. "I'm here because you need me, all of you." She said steadily, no hint of anything but reserved anger in her voice. She sat down on the coffee table in front of him and crossed her legs before leaning toward him.

"Let me be clear Katherine, no one has ever needed _you._" He spat. A smile graced her features that made her look a lot like the Grinch.

"You can be as mean as you want, it won't make me wrong, Stefan." She smirked. "Elena and Damon need me to break the bond, but you're gonna need me when it's all over." She grinned at him. "Because I know a secret." She leaned in farther, but Stefan stayed rigid.

"I've seen a sirebond break. I know what it looks like when the love isn't real." She paused for dramatic effect and though Stefan meant to get up, he was frozen to his seat.

"And when Elena doesn't come running toward you, and you realize that you literally _killed_ your own shot at happiness, I'll be the one to run after you. I'll be the only one willing to put back the pieces you tear yourself into." Her whisper echoed in the cavity of his chest long after she blurred away.

.

* * *

.

Damon eyed Katherine, who was currently sitting in the passenger seat of his car as they drove in silence. He was trying to decide the most effective way to threaten her, but couldn't quite put his finger on it.

After he'd personally made sure Elena got to school and used the sirebond to make sure she wouldn't do anything life-threatening he swung by Barbie's to pick up his brother, when he found Katherine. While he'd been hoping Stefan would be the one to help him with all this hunter shit, Katherine wasn't a bad choice for the job. After all she needed them alive and she was a lot stronger than they were, plus the hunter would never see her coming. So with that resolve he opened his passenger door this morning and convinced her to come along for the ride. Besides, if he was going to figure out what Elena was doing before it was too late, he would need to keep an eye on her.

"Could you at least try to make some conversation, I mean aren't you supposed to be the fun brother?" Katherine scoffed.

"Times have changed, turns out I'm the responsible one after all." Damon replied and Katherine laughed dryly.

"Please, time doesn't change _everything_." She snorted.

"It actually does." Damon hissed back, but she rolled her eyes. He expected nothing less of her, but she still got to him just a little. "So Katherine, tell me, since I used to be sired to you and all, just how did you manage to break it off from the hole you crawled into in order to hide from me?" He sneered. He knew she wasn't going to give him anything, but breaking her in a little didn't hurt and it wasn't like he'd had more than five minutes with her between the time he'd been apparently sired and the time she declared her epic love for Stefan. If she was present for breaking the bond that was really all he needed to hear, it narrowed it down pretty far.

"Damon, you aren't even trying." She rolled her eyes. "And you're right not to, I want that cure and I'm not going to ruin it by trying to make you happy."

"Of course you aren't." He said under his breath, his grip tightening on the steering wheel.

"Where are we going anyway? I thought you said this had to do with the new big bad hunter or whatever." She grumbled, crossing her arms.

"It does, and since Jeremy seems to know literally nothing about his new partner in crime I figure we should visit the last hunter's lair and see if he left behind any clues." Damon said. He truly loathed spending time with this woman, but she would be excellent as a tester for booby traps that Connor left behind.

"Fucking hunters are so irritating." She whined as they pulled up to the trailer Connor had inhabited. She slammed the door to his Camaro and he winced. He fucking hated her.

"You're fucking joking." She sputtered a moment later, when two wooden arrows sliced through her abdomen. She stood stock still, her eyes darting around for the attacker, not daring to touch the arrows with her bare hands.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, this's kind of a high security kind of place." He smirked at her. She held up her middle finger to him and her jaw clenched in discomfort.

"As much as you're enjoying the show I can't really do anything like this so why don't you help a girl out." Her toned lacked the usual spark with her injury.

"Hmmm," Damon smirked, tapping his chin. "See I would love to help and all but I'm betting those arrows have vervain in them and you know how I am about getting my hands dirty."

"Damon stop fucking around and get these things out of me or I swear—

"Swear what Katherine?" He was now just an inch from her face, his playful demeanor vanished as he took a gloved hand and twisted the arrow inside her. "Swear that you won't lay a fucking hand on Elena? Is that what you were going to say?" He growled, she let out cry of pain. "Because if it wasn't I highly suggest you rethink your statement." He sneered. She glared at him and he gave the arrow another tug. "Touch a hair on my girl's head and I will take those 147 years I spent learning how to be cruel and make you wish Klaus was the only thing chasing you."

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* * *

.

When Caroline woke up the first thing she noticed were the sheets. She hadn't remembered washing them and she couldn't remember the last time her mom had done her laundry. The sheet were softer and smelled nicer than she ever remembered, she half wondered if she'd replaced them. But she didn't want to open her eyes yet so she chocked it up to one of the great mysteries of life and breathed in deeply. She hugged her pillow tighter to her chest and snapped open her eyes immediately, sensing something was off.

Her heart hammered loudly in her chest as she bolted up from the unfamiliar bed, searching through her mind as to how she'd ended up in the opulent bedroom that was clearly not hers. When the memory of the night before struck her she groaned audibly at her stupid, _stupid_ choices.

She'd come here because she couldn't be around Stefan who'd taken over her living room. She couldn't be around Elena who was doing only God knew what with two of her least favorite vampires. She couldn't be around Matt because he was living with Jeremy who had an uncontrollable desire to kill her. So she came to the only house where she knew she'd be guaranteed a sound, safe and serene night of sleep. She'd ignored the guilt that crept up on her as she walked at a human pace last night, giving herself plenty of time to change her mind. But she didn't.

She knocked on Klaus's door and asked him if he had a spare room. At least she planned to ask him that before her lips started to quiver and her voice broke on the word "do". She sobbed on his front porch with her face in her hands for less than a second before he pulled her inside. He asked her if someone had hurt her and after shaking her head no several times he seemed to have left her alone. She was sitting in his armchair, her head still in her hands when he returned with tea and asked her what had happened.

Her guilt prevented her from looking at him. It prevented her from confiding in him. She was with Tyler. Tyler whose mother he had killed. Tyler who was nowhere to be found because of him. She could not seek comfort from him because her guilt prevented her from doing so. However, she didn't stop him when he wrapped his arms around her and held her until the sobs calmed. She didn't even ask where he was taking her when he helped her up the stairs. And that made her feel even _guiltier_.

He put her in his guest room and tucked her in like she was a child before he bid her sweet dreams and assured her that if she made any sound at all he would come to her. He didn't try to kiss her or sleep with her or even get her to talk to him. He'd just been there. He'd given her a night of actual rest. It was the best sleep she'd gotten in what felt like a year. And she couldn't bring herself to regret it, which brought a fresh wave of guilt over her. She stood up quickly and righted herself in the mirror, listening for any sound that Klaus was home. She glanced to the clock and was shocked to find she'd slept through the entire morning and straight into the afternoon. Frantically she unlocked her phone to find several messages from her worried friends.

"Shit." She muttered. She hadn't planned this, but she was hoping that she would be back before anyone could notice she was gone at all. She snatched her purse from the nightstand and her heart fluttered nauseatingly so when she saw the note addressed to her in Klaus's annoyingly perfect handwriting.

_Dearest Caroline, _

_Forgive me for leaving you, but I had business to attend to and darling you sleep like the dead. Don't fret, you are safe here for as long as you wish to stay. The room is yours. _

_ Love, Nikklaus _

Caroline shuddered in what she wasn't sure was disgust and stuffed the note into her purse. It was absurd. She couldn't just waltz in and take up residence at Klaus's. She only came because she had nowhere else to go. It was only one time. She reminded herself as she fled the room.

Only one.

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* * *

.

Jeremy was panicking. Why couldn't he open his god damn useless mouth? No, instead he was pacing behind the school gym, sweating bullets. He knew Chris's plan. He knew it was going to be destructive towards his only living relative and yet he just could not open his mouth. This stupid kid hunter was _not_ his friend. He was trying to kill his sister. He was trying to get _him_ to kill his sister. It was fucking insane. He couldn't believe he even sat and listened to the plan. He told himself that he would run and tell her the second Chris was done talking but every time he tried he ended up sputtering and sweating and coughing like he was sick.

He saw Chris talking to her in the hall, he was practically flirting her. She didn't even notice the way that the hunter touched her ring inconspicuously. God why was Damon not here? Or Stefan? Or someone who was just the slightest bit defensive and observant. No, Elena, his big sis and the magnet for supernatural drama had to be completely oblivious to the new guy at her high school's hidden agenda. He kind of wanted to shake her because since when had anyone moved to mystic falls that didn't have some supernatural destiny? Never, that was when. Then he got mad at himself for not just telling her. It was his job to protect the only family he had left and not only couldn't he do that but he couldn't even give her a fucking head start.

"Elena you—

He practiced it again and again but never got past the first two words. They got clogged in his throat and he knew that this hunter bullshit was making him crazy. He felt delirious. All he wanted was to tell his fucking sister to take off that ring and get the fuck out of here before it was too late. But he fucking couldn't. He couldn't be responsible for killing her, and he was running out of time to give her a heads up.

.

* * *

.

"You can't just barge in whenever you want something Nik. This is my house and in case you've forgotten we aren't on speaking terms." Rebekah snapped upon her morning being disrupted. Klaus had been sitting in her living room when she'd gotten out of the shower and she was immediately defensive, a visit from her big brother usually ended with her being shoved into a box.

"In case you've forgotten you seem to be hoarding something that you're very well aware I've been searching for." He replied, not standing from the chair he'd lounged in while waiting for Rebekah to approach him. She wasn't surprised that he knew Tyler was here, in fact at the beginning of this whole thing she was hoping he would find her with him, but now that she was beginning to grow attached to him just a little she felt defensive of his presence.

"He's off limits." She glared at him. He laughed a response.

"Please, I made him. If I decided I was going to kill him he would've been six feet under before you'd even gotten out of the shower." He hissed.

"What do you want?" She snarled, well aware that Tyler was just around the corner, his breathing getting heavier by the second.

"Why don't you take it down a notch, hm?" He suggested. Rebekah stayed tense, waiting for him to make his move. He was too calm, which meant he had a plan, which probably wouldn't end well for her. "After all there's no need for you to get over-emotional." He smirked and she blushed in anger, her fists twitching.

"What do you want?" She repeated, no less malice in her tone than before, she didn't want to lose it in front of him, she couldn't stand to prove him right. Klaus shrugged.

"Well, for starters I'd like to know what you plan to gain from all this." He said simply. She narrowed her eyes at his casual observation of her living room as he trailed his fingers over her coffee table.

"None of your business." She repeated, standing her ground.

"I think we've established that it is, unless you'd like your new toy to be decapitated at your feet." He bit out, losing his patience.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!" Tyler blurred into the room and Klaus had him by the throat against the wall before he could finish his sentence. Rebekah was quick, but not quick enough. What was Tyler thinking? He could get himself killed and then she would have to go find a new leverage piece that was just as good in bed. She tried to wedge herself between the two hybrids, but her brother shoved her off forcefully.

"Pretty obvious what I've done mate but what I'm still curious about is what you've done and what you're planning to do next." Klaus squeeze Tyler's windpipe threateningly but he continued to flail his arms at his captor. Tyler was lost in his rage and for the life of her Rebekah couldn't understand why. He knew Klaus killed his mother and she expected him to be angry but this seemed a little much.

"Tyler what are you doing?" Rebekah hissed. "Nik let him down." She pleaded, shoving against him.

"I smell her!" Tyler screamed again. "If you touched her I swear to God I'll fucking kill you Klaus I will fucking KILL you!" He was hysterical in Klaus's grip, so much so that Klaus struggled to keep him still. Rebekah's eyes widened as she took in the miniscule scent of another vampire, a certain female vampire.

"If I was a better man, I'd tell you that I'd killed her." He whispered, the smile still proudly on his face. "I'd tell you that I tortured her half to death before I ripped her heart out of her chest." Tyler struggled and Klaus squeezed again on his throat, causing him to sputter.

"But since I think what really happened will make you want to rip your own heart from your chest I'll leave you with that." He grinned. "She knocked on my door last night looking devastated, desperate and lonely." His tone grew darker. Tyler's eyes widened in horror. "And she sought comfort out in _me._" Rebekah waited for her brother to continue but he stopped there and at first she didn't understand. He had every opportunity to tell Tyler he'd slept with his girlfriend or worse, yet he didn't.

When Tyler became speechless, she understood. Her brother was telling the truth, and there was nothing more painful for Tyler than to hear that he'd forced the love of his life into his enemy's arms.

.

* * *

.

Elena was pretending to do her homework while she watched Damon read. He was researching through old journals for any information at all about Silas and the cure, his back tense and his eyes focused on the pages. She wanted to rub the tension out of his shoulders, but since he would probably flinch at her touch she decided to save herself the embarrassment. It was already night out, and she was hoping he would get tired soon so that they could get into bed together. She was exhausted and she couldn't sleep without him, but she feared that if she went upstairs first, he wouldn't join her.

It was stupid to worry about things like that, she knew it, but she didn't care.

The truth was that she had been thinking about turning it off and what that would mean for them all afternoon. She didn't know what kind of person she would be without her emotions, and while Katherine promised to keep her in check, she wouldn't keep her from hurting Damon in any and every way possible. She'd already hurt him so much. He'd already sent her away. This could be the last straw for him. This could be the thing that made him decide loving her was not worth it.

She shook the thoughts from her mind quickly, Damon had proven to her over and over again that he would never leave her. But he _had_ left her before, in more ways than one. What if Damon turned it off with her? Katherine would abandon both of them in a heartbeat, and she couldn't do that to Stefan. He'd come after both of them until he eventually went ripper from the stress of it all. She didn't think Damon would do that, not when she needed him to help turn her switch back on. But she didn't know. She couldn't say for sure what he would do, and that brought her to a new frustrating realization.

Damon was unpredictable.

She never knew what he was going to do, ever. He was impulsive and crazy and sabotaged himself left and right. She was afraid of what this would do to him, how it would make him feel. She knew that at the end of the day he would always chose her, but he was such a masochist that he chose to send her away for what was supposed to be her benefit. If he blamed himself for her turning it off and everything she did while her switch was flipped he might never believe that he was right for her. Her heart rate spiked at the thought. When Damon made up his mind there was no changing it. He'd already left her once, she didn't think she could handle it again. She couldn't blame anyone but herself though. She'd never given him a reason before the sirebond to believe he was _it_ for her. In fact she'd pretty much done everything possible to convince him that he wasn't.

"I didn't know Vampires could have panic attacks." His voice made her jump. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed when he'd abandoned his journal and sat down a safe distance across from her, his eyes appraising her carefully. She gave him a small smile and shook her head as though to dismiss the whole thing.

"Don't do that." He said softly, putting a hesitant hand on her knee. She shut her eyes tightly in frustration, when would he ever touch her like he had the right to? This sirebond shit was driving her out of her mind.

"Do what?"

"Your heart is racing, tell me what you're thinking about." He asked, his voice was soft but he stilled as he realized that once again he'd forced the sirebond on her without meaning to.

"Only if you want to of your own free will." He tacked on quickly, rolling his eyes. Elena smiled, but shook her head again.

"I'm afraid that you're going to leave me 'for my own good' before I have a chance to prove to you how I feel. I don't think you're going to give me a chance." She said. "Which is why I'm working so hard to break this bond because the longer we wait the more I feel you pulling away from me, deciding what I feel before I have the chance to." She sighed, exhausted, grabbing his wrist before it slid from her knee in a defeated gesture. He was silent for a moment, tense and calculating before he spoke.

"Elena—

"Damon!" Jeremy burst through the door to the boarding house and before he could finish screaming for Damon she was at his side. He was sweating and shaking and looking sick.

"Jer—

"Don't touch me it's not safe don't touch me!" Jeremy yelled gripping his head in pain, but she didn't move away from him until Damon wrapped his hand around her upper arm and forcefully flung her behind him.

"Jeremy what happened are you hurt?" She frantically tried to claw her way past Damon but his arm caged her from anything other than examining her brother from a distance. She started shaking in fear at the sight of him. He was disheveled and not himself. It reminded her of when Alaric had become his alter ego. This was her fear for Jeremy and yet another reason that she would not let him touch another vampire. She knew he couldn't handle it so quickly, his mark was growing too fast, it was too much for him.

"Take her and run." Jeremy grit out, grasping Damon's arm. "The hunter did some shit to her ring, tomorrow it's not going to work. He's going to grab her and use her as bait to kill all the vampires that come after her." Jeremy sputtered, as though the words were physically exhausting to him. "This mark is making me crazy, you can't trust me anymore." He threw a glance to Elena and her heart throbbed for him. "Take her and run, now."

.

* * *

**A/N Hey guys, i hope you're still following the story I know it's been way too long sine I've updated, the semester just really got the best of me. However after that amazing season finale I was completely inspired. Hopefully you guys will let me know what you think I would really appreciate it. I'll be updating asap!**

**Next up: Damon and Elena hit the road in the dead of the night for an infamous Delena road trip while back at home Katherine, Stefan, Caroline and Bonnie deal with the fallout. **

**-Onalee**


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